SEPIA OFFICINALIS

Sepia officinalis – Cuttlefish ink

Remedy picture as described in traditional homoeopathic texts.

Considered predominantly to be a woman’s remedy, Sepia is mainly used in home prescribing to treat issues surrounding hormonal imbalance and exhaustion from over work. It affects venous circulation especially the female pelvic organs where symptoms seem to settle in the lower back area and move upward towards the head.

Mental / Emotional Symptoms

Weak, weary and miserable, pessimistic and indifferent. Dragged down by over work. Can reject those most loved, the family. Easily moved to tears when describing symptoms. Aversion to sex. Hysterical, irritable, quarrelsome. Afraid of not coping and losing control. Seeks solitude yet fears it. Fantasises about running away. Resentful of one’s lot. Dull, confused, poor memory.

Physical Symptoms

Headaches: With nausea, worse for stuffy rooms, menstruation, noise. Pains in forehead, temples or one side (left) boring, bursting, dull with inability to think. Pain causing head to jerk.

Female: ‘never well since’ puberty, childbirth, weaning or hormone therapy. Weak pelvic floor muscles with a dragging or bearing down sensation of the uterus or pelvic region, as if everything would fall out. Wants to sit down with crossed legs. Prolapsed uterus. Sensation of a “ball” in pelvis. Dryness. Amenorrhoea, menses late and scanty or early and profuse. Leucorrhoea, yellow-green, offensive and irritating. Hot flushes with little redness, but with sweating, fainting or weakness. Menopause symptoms.

Circulatory: Palpitations, congested veins. Nervous palpitations better for walking fast, lying on left side.

Stomach and abdomen: Nausea in the morning before food, faint sinking feeling. Flatulence and tenderness. Congestion in liver, better for lying on the right side. Longing for vinegar, acids, pickles and sweets. Acidity with a burning sensation in pit of stomach. Really hungry or no hunger at all; sudden hunger and sudden satiety. Constipation with no urging for days.

Pregnancy and Birth: Constipation, pigmentation of skin, thrush, incontinence, painful teeth. Prolapse after birthing. A tendency to miscarriage. Vomiting of solid food only or milky fluids during pregnancy in the morning.

Skin: Yellowish complexion. Usually chilly, but sweats easily from armpits and back. Blotched, raw, rough or cracked skin, spots on skin, ringworm. Hair loss especially after menopause.

Temperature: Very chilly and easily chilled, hands cold in warm room, hot hands with cold feet or visa versa. Cold in spots; on top of head, between scapulae, feet. Feels cold in bed.

Urinary: Incontinence, with bearing down sensation above pelvis. Cutting pain before urination. Bedwetting. Urine thick, foul or red, with sandy sediment.

Pains: Dull aching, dragging or heavy pains in lower back, sacrum or across hips extending forwards.

Spasms, jerking, twitches or sudden stiches as if ‘struck by a hammer’. Shuddering pains. Pains are worse for lying on back and motion.

Keywords

• Weary and indifferent
• Heavy dragging sensation
• Sad and irritable
• Chilly

Exciting causes:

• Anger and vexation
• Over-lifting
• House work
• Getting wet
• Boiled milk, fat
• Tobacco and alcohol
• Hormonal imbalance
• Contraceptive pill
• Hysterectomy
• Puberty
• Pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood
• Menopause

Modalities

Better:         Vigorous exercise and dancing; open air and wind; warmth of bed

Worse:       Consolation; cold; standing still; menstruation; pregnancy; lactation; tobacco; mental fatigue

Desires:        Vinegar; pickles; acidic and bitter foods; alcohol; chocolate; cold drinks

Aversions:   Meat; break; milk; fats; rich food; smell of food

© Owen Homoeopathics

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