Cic, Cicuta Virosa

Cic in four sentences

• Neurological remedy
• Good choice in two phases of immorality and childish behavior
• Epilepsy (Strange facial expressions, Agg with any stimulus such as suppression of rash, Aura in solar plexus)
• Extreme sensitivity to emotional stimuli such as sad movies

ADHD esp in children with history of Epilepsy /Convulsions.

Introduction

• Cic belongs to the Umbelliferae family. All the members of this family have an action on the nervous system, the mucosa (Catarrh), the skin (Pustulous or scabby eruptions).
• Other Umbelliferae known and used in homoeopathy are Aeth, Ammoniacum gummi, Asaf, Con, Petros and Phellandrium. (Cic ₳ Con)
• Both Asaf and Cic has spasmodic action. Asaf has a well-known anti-peristaltic action which causes throat lump.

Mind

Absent minded, catalepsy

• For a long period of time, he absolutely does not remember what is going on around him. Literally it is said, he is “disconnected”. (Cic ₳ Nux-m)
• The patient has frequent fits of absentmindedness of variable duration or he is so buried in his thoughts that he is no longer aware of what goes on around him.
• According to Hering, She knows no one, but when touched and spoken to, she answers
  • Suddenly consciousness returns, and she remembers nothing of what has occurred.
  • Loss of consciousness with open eyes, knows no one, but when touched or spoken to answers questions; consciousness returns suddenly, and she does not remember what has passed; attacks twice a day.
• This ability to immediately be ‘ back again’ whilst being in his own inner world, is absolutely specific to this remedy.
• Arn or Bapt patients have also stuporous state, replies when spoken to, then falls back into lethargy. Whereas Cic can leave his inner world and is immediately able to be “back again”, without reverting to obliviousness.

Automatism

• Cic patient takes his car every morning for the same drive to his office.
• He is able to drive it in an automatic way whilst being deeply in his thoughts or while being “disconnected”. This is so true that when he has to run an errand in an opposite direction to the usual one, he will probably drive several miles on his usual way before getting aware of his mistake.
• All these phenomena are readily aggravated by the tendency to be mistaken in going to places and in estimating times. Since the patient has a strong tendency to take refuge into his own world (to the point of ecstasy), he can reach the point of mingling the present with the past
• Dullness of Senses symptoms, everything appears Strange
• Tendencies to be lost in thoughts (Cic ₳ Nat-m) Nat-m is the major differential diagnosis with Cic.

Anxiety about the future

• He has only anxiety about the future It is not anticipation, as found in Med, Lyc or Carc, but a real anxiety about the future with a hardly disguised pessimism.
• Cic is often interested in the fate of humanity and is very worried about its future.
• Sometimes, the patient is more concerned about himself with the fear of falling ill or of the occurrence of a catastrophe. Here it is very close to Sul on the philosophical side. (Cic ₳ Sul)

Key points

• MIND: Shuns the foolishness of men; or Misanthropy, shuns the foolishness of men.

MIND - HUMANKIND - shuns the foolishness of humankind

• Contempt and scorn for mankind; he avoided them, abhorred their follies excessively, and his disposition seemed to tend towards misanthropy; he withdrew himself into solitude. (Allen)
• Cic is mild, Sympathethic and sensitive to unpleasant events (Cic ₳ Puls), (Cic ₳ Nat-m)

MIND - HORRIBLE things, sad stories affect her profoundly

MIND - FRIGHTENED easily

MIND - FEAR - people; of

MIND - FEAR - people; of - confidence in; from loss of

MIND - FEAR - people; of - contempt for; with

MIND - FEAR - people; of - shuns the foolishness of

MIND - SENSITIVE - sad stories, to

MIND - TALKING - unpleasant things agg.; of

MIND - SYMPATHETIC

• Sensitivity, compassion, moral values
• Disappointment, grief
• Escape, withdrawal
• Ailment from disappointment

Different adaptive mechanisms

Homeopathy teaches us to see both sides of the same hill. Likewise, Cic is able to display two different pictures whilst struggling to adapt itself in this cruel world. We’ll describe here the passive mode, that is the more classical in Caust or Ly.

Passive Mode: The Escape

• Feeling repelled by human behavior, Cic tries to run away from it.
• He no longer wants to meet people he does not know. He cannot stand crowds, not because of a claustrophobia, but because he feels repelled by the frequent instinctive reactions of an anonymous crowd.
• Opposed to Staph, rather than getting angry and rebelling, they prefer not to be confronted with it. Of course both have Indignation / Wounded dignity + Avoiding conflicts / Refusing to quarrel. (Cic ₳ Staph)

Desire to stay home

• When cic has to go out, he wants to come back as soon as possible. This tendency to stay home is very evocative, and although it could be mistaken with the Nat-m withdrawal, two other remedies should also be mentioned:
  • Bry has a fear of the future, is easily irritated against others and has a yearning to go home. (Bry ₳ Cic)
  • Bar-c likes to stay home and is afraid of the future. This is due to his shyness and his extreme lack of confidence in himself. His home, a familiar environment with well known marks, is a haven of peace which secures him. The fear of the future can be explained by the fact that Bar-c is aware of his deficiencies and lives in the future with a lot of anticipation. (Bar-c ₳ Cic)
• Cicuta patient is often taciturn, distrustful and not very talkative.

Active Mode: Provocation, Anger

• We often think of Cic's depressed and disappointed face, while Cic can be very violent and angry. The ruling oppression can lead people to irritability and indignation
• The first signs of backing out is“I can no longer stand to be in a group, I am rejected, I am troublesome”. But the patient still has enough energy to pursue his fights and stand up for his ideals. (Cic ₳ Lyc) (Caust ₳ Cic)
• Cic is a sensitive person who has lofty views about the future of humanity, but things don't look so good. He is seriously injured. Therefore, his reactions are accompanied by anger and avoidance of humanity
• We have just drawn the picture of a sensitive person with high views on humanity’s future, but who is hit hard by reality which he finds sordid (more than anyone else would do). How will he react?
• There are two types of reactions which, sometimes, can be found in the same person.

Provocation, Consternation

• Childish behavior linked to epilepsy.
• Considering the cases I have come across, I think the reality (I mean, at the present day) is more subtle. In fact, this wounded subject tries to attract attention on his suffering, although without seeking consolation. This attitude, somewhat haughty and proud, warrants the place of the remedy in the followings rubrics:
• Feeling constantly disappointed, reproachful to everyone ends in state of Censorious / Haughtiness / Contemptuous (Cic ₳ Plat)
• Cic is very sensitive and does show his feelings easily. He agg while speaking of unpleasant things, therefore change his behavior to the ridiculousness. It looks like a sort of provocation or an attempt to ward off his own sensitiveness in trying to appear as rude or rustic as possible, which really is in total opposition to what he truly is.

Anger

Cic is an angry patient, who shows his anger violently (Staph), but it seems his anger is not toward a one specific person but he is angry from humanity (Nat-m, Nat-c) Although he may be angry because of his oversensitive to external impressions (Nux-v)

Cic is an important remedy for spastic / Convulsive involuntary motions which is named Jerking / Twitching / Chorea in General, Head, Back, exterminates and stomach

There is a wide spectrum of symptoms going from the feeling of shock, like an electrical shock, to the actual shaking of a limb. Epileptic patients acutely describe the feeling of a shock in the stomach just before having a fit. However,

Cic feels of a sudden shock in his head

Sudden starts and sensitivity to touch

Cic over sensitivity to touch / Sudden starts / Shocks in the stomach area also remind us of Kali-c (Cic ₳ Kali-c)

After-effects of head and rachis injuries

Cicuta is a major remedy for traumas, not only for mental ones:

• Injuries, mental symptoms following
• Sadness, injuries of the head, from
• VERTIGO, Injuries head, after
• Concussion of brain
• THROAT: Injuries oesophagus (2/1), splinter, bone (2/1), convulsions, provokes (2/1).
• Shock electric like, concussion of brain, from
• Convulsions, commotion of the brain
• Wounds, knife, splinters, penetrating

Cic is also important in n perforating wounds (Led, Hyper)

• Led has coldness of the wounded areas, although the patient does not feel the cold.
• Hyper is indicated in same trauma damages to nerves, with strong shooting pains
• Cic induces convulsions through reflex effect, which could have preventive effect for tetanus.

Rubrics

Anxiety / Depressive conditions followed by trauma (Cic ₳ Nat-s)