Sanicula Aqua — Homeopathic Remedy Profile

Sanicula is the potentized water of the mineral springs at Ottawa, Illinois. Its saline constituents, chiefly Natrum muriaticum, Calcarea muriatica and Magnesia muriatica, with traces of iodine, silica and iron, set the direction of its action. It was proved in the potencies and has long been considered the chronic of Chamomilla. Its field of action is nutrition, the female organs, rectum, neck and skin.

At a Glance

Source and Preparation

The remedy is prepared from the spring water itself. Murphy records the analysis in grains per gallon: Nat-m. 93, Calc-m. 23.5, Mag-m. 23.25, Calc-bic. 14.25, Calc-s. 9.5, Kali-s. 5, Nat-bic. 1, Nat-br. 3, Fe-bic. 1, Nat-i. 12, Sil. 5, Alum. 0.1, with traces of Lith-bic., Nat-p. and Bor. The water is odorless, colorless and slightly alkaline. Dilutions are made from the water; triturations from the evaporated salt.

Two prescribing registers therefore coexist under one name. Historically the water was drunk directly at the springs, a real dosimetric intake, and this is where "great longing for the spring water" belongs as a symptom. Classical homeopathic prescribing is from 30C upward, on the totality of the case, and does not depend on the mineral load of the water. Boericke and Clarke record use across "tincture and all potencies." The register must be stated whenever the mineral content is under discussion, because the pharmacology attaches to the water and not to the dynamic preparation. What acts at 30C is the potentized image, prescribed on the totality; the constituent salts are a hint to its constitutional affinity, not a dose.

The Essence of Sanicula

Two pictures dominate the materia medica: the wasting, obstinate, sweaty child, and the woman whose pelvic floor and sphincters have let go. Both share a peculiar note. The body smells like old cheese, the discharges like fishbrine, and nothing closes cleanly. Stools crumble at the verge of the anus and must be finished by hand. Menses will not stop because the vagina feels too large. Foot sweat stiffens the hose and destroys the shoes.

The mind matches. Crossness alternates quickly with playfulness. The child is headstrong, obstinate and touchy, will not be touched, will not lie near another person in the bed, and cannot bear one part of the body to touch another. There is instability of purpose, a restless desire to go from place to place, a constant desire to look behind, a dread of downward motion, and a fear of the dark that sits alongside the storm-sensitivity of Phosphorus.

The classical pairing with Chamomilla is worth carrying into the case. The Chamomilla state left uncured: the teething child who never quite thrives afterwards, the temper that hardens into obstinacy, the sweat that never dries. This is Sanicula territory.

Clinical Portrait

Mind and Temperament

Least word or action upsets. Everything is misconstrued. The child is hard to please and, characteristically, will not lie near another person in the bed. Dreams are of robbers, and the whole house must be searched before sleep returns. Dreams of murder and remorse. Lascivious dreams.

Nutrition and Constitution

This is the central axis. The patient is thin and looks old, especially the child. The neck is weak and emaciated; the child cannot hold its head. The abdomen is bloated and gurgles loudly. Pot-bellied children with wasted limbs, wrinkled skin about the neck hanging in folds, marasmus and rickets in the nineteenth-century clinical language of the source. The child wants to nurse all the time and yet loses flesh. Cravings run to salt, bacon and ice-cold milk. Thirst is little and often, and water is vomited as soon as it reaches the stomach.

Consider a fifteen-month-old who nurses through the night yet grows heavier at the belly than at the limbs. The neck is thin and the head lolls. He cries before urinating; the urine is briny and stains the diaper faintly red. When the mother lies down beside the cot, he pushes her away and rolls onto something hard. She has washed him three times, and the parts still smell of brine. All these details come from Murphy's page, and their arrival together in one child is what makes Sanicula recognizable at sight.

Head, Eyes, Ears

Bursting in the vertex. A sensation as if a cold cloth were around the brain. Cannot bear cold air on the occiput and neck. Profuse sweat on occiput and neck, worse during sleep. Electric crackling in the hair when combed. Profuse scab, dandruff, and falling of hair; small boils on the head that will not mature.

The eyelids are agglutinated in the morning. Eyes burn and exude a sticky fluid. Lacrimation in cold open air. Dandruff of the eyebrows. Ulcerated cornea; dim sight; photophobia. Behind the ears the source is definite: soreness with a white, gluey, sticky discharge. Graphites and Psorinum share this exact location.

Digestion and Rectum

Bloating of the stomach begins as soon as eating begins. A lump is felt in the stomach. Sour, rancid, burning belchings. Nausea after eating, better from smoking. Vomiting of milk after nursing. Eating causes urging for stool and the patient must leave the table; yet on the whole the patient feels better after eating.

The constipation is characteristic. Ineffectual urging. Even soft stool requires great effort to expel. The stool is one large, heavy, foul mass like rotten cheese, or dry, small balls. Stools are misshapen and changeable. Most striking of all: the stool crumbles at the verge of the anus and must be removed. That single confirmatory sign points to Sanicula in a child with chronic constipation when little else fits.

Kidneys and Bedwetting

The remedy is named in the source for bedwetting. There is bursting in the bladder with urgent call to pass urine; frequent, profuse, sudden urination; urging that ceases if the desire is resisted. The urine is briny and stains the diaper red. The child cries before urinating and strains to urinate while at stool. In the male child the parts smell of fishbrine even after bathing.

Female Organs

Leukorrhea with the strong odor of fishbrine, worse after stool. Bearing down as if the contents of the pelvis would escape, worse from jar and walking. The woman supports the relaxed parts by placing her hand against the vulva, and is better from rest. The vagina feels large; menstruation cannot be stopped. The os is open and dilated. Milk is thin. Sepia shares the bearing-down; in Sanicula the discharge itself carries the fishbrine odor.

Chest, Cough, Larynx

Asthmatic breathing, worse after supper. Wheezing and rattling under the sternum, worse during or after eating. Deep, hollow cough with loud rattling, brought on by tickling under the sternum, on lying down at night and on waking. The child gags and vomits a mouthful of tough, stringy matter; expectoration of large, yellow, cheesy masses. Great soreness of the upper chest; the patient must hold it with the hands when coughing. Hoarseness follows sore throat, and the throat must be cleared before speaking. A cold, icy sensation in the throat as of peppermint. Solids are swallowed better than fluids.

Skin

Eczema exuding a sticky fluid, behind the ears and on wrists, fingers and toes. Fissured hands and fingers. Cracks on the fingers. Itching worse from scratching. Skin dry, brownish, flabby. Small boils that will not mature. Ringworm, including, characteristically, ringworm on the tongue. The eczema is worse from bathing, a modality it shares with Silica.

Extremities and Foot Sweat

Cold, clammy hands and feet. Burning of palms and soles. Feet as if in cold water. Cramps in the feet. And the note the source italicizes: foul foot sweat that chafes the toes, destroys the shoes and stiffens the hose. Together with the sweat behind the ears and the sweat on the occiput, this is the constitutional signature of the child who arrives at the clinic already changed into slippers because the shoes are unwearable.

Back

Neck too weak to support the head. Stiff backache worse from the least turning, raising the arms, or putting the hands behind. The patient must turn the whole body to look around and sits with the head forward to ease the pain. Cold lumbar spine. Lumbago better lying on the right side. Lumbar vertebrae as if dislocated or gliding past each other. A sensation as of a damp cloth on the sacrum.

Modalities

Worse:

• Strain, jarring
• Motion; raising the arm; putting the hands behind
• Descending
• Cold wind on occiput or neck
• Eating (bloating; cough); after supper (asthma)

Better:

• Open air
• Warmth
• Vomiting
• Rest (for the pelvic bearing-down)

Relationships

Sanicula stands as the chronic of Chamomilla in the classical relations: the temper and touchiness carried forward into a wasted, obstinate constitution.

Compare:

• Silica: for the offensive foot sweat, the sweat on head and neck, the boils that will not mature, the eczema worse from bathing.
• Phosphorus: for the fear of the dark and the storm-sensitive nervous child.
• Natrum muriaticum and Calcarea muriatica: the principal constituents of the water, and constitutionally close on the salt-craving, emaciated, sweaty-headed child.
• Graphites and Psorinum: for the sticky viscid discharge behind the ears.
• Arsenicum album: drinks little and often, vomits as soon as the water reaches the stomach.
• Pulsatilla, Carcinosin and Lac caninum: for symptoms that change constantly.
• Natrum muriaticum, Ranunculus sceleratus and Taraxacum: for ringworm on the tongue.
• Borax: for the dread of downward motion.
• Aloe: for the sphincter that is not under control.
• Hepar sulphuris: for the fishbrine odor of the discharges.

Clinical Uses

Bedwetting in Rachitic Children

Where the child is thin, pot-bellied, obstinate, cries before urinating, and the urine is briny with an odor that persists after washing. Frequent, profuse, sudden daytime urination is often present alongside. Boericke gives "tincture and all potencies"; classical prescribing turns on the totality, and 30C and above are the common working potencies.

Chronic Constipation in Children

The stool that crumbles at the verge of the anus is the confirmatory symptom. Ineffectual urging with soft stool, a single large foul mass or dry small balls, and the accompanying pot-belly and gurgling all point here. Murphy prints this indication in bold.

Marasmus and Failure to Thrive

Nursing constantly and losing flesh. Wrinkled skin, weak neck, old look, cravings for salt or bacon or ice-cold milk. Where the mother reports that the child cannot bear to lie near her at night and will roll onto something hard, the picture is nearly diagnostic.

Motion Sickness and Seasickness

Better from vomiting. Faint, smothering sensation with great desire for open air. Vertigo on rising from stooping, while sitting at desk or table, after eating with nausea. See also the travel sickness hub for the differential picture.

Ringworm, Especially on the Tongue

An unusual location that the source records explicitly. The sticky, exuding eczema behind the ears is the second cutaneous keynote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sanicula homeopathic medicine safe for infants and small children? Its clinical field is precisely there. Murphy, Boericke and Clarke all record its use for pot-bellied, wasting, bedwetting children. At 30C and above, nothing of the mineral spring water is present in molecular form; what acts is the dynamic preparation, prescribed on the totality of the case.

What are the leading keynotes of Sanicula? The stool that crumbles at the anal verge; foul foot sweat that stiffens the hose; nursing constantly while losing flesh; the child who will not let one part of the body touch another; briny discharges that smell of fishbrine or old cheese; electric crackling of the hair when combed; the dread of downward motion.

How does Sanicula differ from Silica? Both cover sweaty offensive feet, boils on the head that will not mature, and sensitivities in the child. Sanicula adds the fishbrine odor of discharges, the crumbling stool, the pot-belly with constant nursing, and the emaciated neck too weak to hold the head. Silica lacks the fishbrine note and has its own timid character.

Why is it called the chronic of Chamomilla? A clinical observation from the classical school. Where a Chamomilla state, with its irritability, touchiness, teething inconsolability and demand-then-refuse behavior, is left uncured and hardens into wasting and obstinacy, Sanicula often completes the case.

References

• Boericke, W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Sanicula Aqua.
• Clarke, J. H. A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica. Sanicula Aqua.
• Murphy, R. Nature's Materia Medica. Sanicula Aqua.
• Phatak, S. R. Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines. Sanicula Aqua.