Introduction

Hi, I’m Homeopathic Dr. Imran Ali. Welcome back to the Materia Medica Series. Today, I’ll be talking about Medorrhinum, which is a homeopathic nosode. It’s a remedy prepared from a gonorrheal discharge. The primary component of that discharge is Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which is a gram-negative diplococcus bacterium. It’s the infectious agent responsible for cases of gonorrhea.

As we shall see, gonorrhea is the main vector for the sycotic miasm, which produces a predisposition towards certain types of symptoms and illnesses in those affected by this miasm.

Background on the Sycotic Miasm

You may recall that the Thuja Materia Medica episode included a brief discussion of miasms, specifically the sycotic miasm.

The sycotic miasm results from the suppression of gonorrhea through inappropriate medical treatment. This miasmatic influence can then be transmitted either:

• to a sexual partner, or
• energetically (not genetically) through childbirth to subsequent generations.

Main Features of the Sycotic Miasm

• Psychological self-consciousness and behavioral excesses
• General aggravation from damp or cold damp conditions
• Tendency toward benign growths and chronic discharges
• Tendency to develop asthma, sinus problems, and urogenital conditions

Dr. Hahnemann coined the term Sycosis, using the Greek root “syko”, meaning “fig.” A fig wart is a benign genital growth that looks like a small clump of cauliflower. Hahnemann determined that fig warts are a common manifestation of the sycotic miasm.

Common Conditions Associated With Gonorrhea Miasm:

• Benign genital or anal growths
• Purulent (having pus) urethral discharges

Importance of Knowing Nosodes

It’s important to realize that Medorrhinum is not well represented in most repertories — the same is true of other big nosodes like Tuberculinum, Carcinosin, Psorinum, and Syphilinum.

Since they’re not likely to appear near the top of a repertorization, it’s essential to know their features well and keep them in mind when taking and analyzing cases.

The Central Theme of Medorrhinum – Exuberance

The tendency toward benign growths serves as a metaphor for a theme that characterizes the essential nature of Medorrhinum: exuberance. Medorrhinum in Exuberant.

Let’s Talk About the Definition of Exuberance

• A feeling of excitement and eager enjoyment
• Lively, happy, cheerful, and energetic. Filled with energy and enthusiasm
• Joyously unrestrained
• Something that is produced in extreme abundance; excessive in degree; extravagant; plentiful; growing profusely

Here we see the parallel between exuberance and the sycotic miasm, which involves a predisposition toward the unrestrained production of benign growths like cysts and warts. It has been said that the sycotic miasm produces exuberant flesh.

Mental and Emotional Traits of Medorrhinum

Passion and Excess

He tends to do everything in excess. He tends to go to extremes. He’s often too intense and too passionate for his own good, and he often suffers from the consequences of his excessive passion.

He is excitable and has a lot of emotional energy. Medorrhinum is always up for fun. He’s adventurous and wants to have a good time. He’s always out looking for excitement and new experiences to keep himself amused.

Extroverted, Expressive & Enthusiastic

Most cases that I’ve seen are extroverted, expressive, enthusiastic, and full of energy.

Medorrhinum is Party Animal: Drugs, Sex, Night Parties

I tend to think of Medorrhinum as the ultimate party animal. That’s why it’s been referred to as the “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” remedy.

Medorrhinum stays out all night long, experiments with drugs, drinks too much, and readily indulges his sexual cravings. The Medorrhinum libido is usually quite strong, and self-control is often lacking. Not surprisingly, his sexual excesses can often get him into trouble.

If I suspect that this remedy is needed, I’ll ask patients if they’ve ever had a “party animal” phase of life. Many will openly admit to fond memories of their youthful indiscretions.

Medorrhinum Children’s Personality Traits

Strong Sexuality in Children

Medorrhinum’s strong sexuality can sometimes manifest at an early age. Young children may masturbate, and sometimes there are incestuous impulses.

Hyperactive Children

Medorrhinum is commonly indicated for hyperactive children who are wild, fun-loving, and lack impulse control. Even when religiously inclined, the Medorrhinum type has a tendency to go overboard.

Religious Enthusiasm of Medorrhinum

His religious enthusiasm can border on fanaticism.

Sensitivity of Medorrhinum Person

Now, in addition to Medorrhinum’s passion, intensity, and exuberance, we also tend to see a strong sensitivity.

Artistic & Beauty Lovers

Medorrhinum can fit artistic types and lovers of beauty. There’s an awareness of the beauty of life and all its mystery and wonder. There may be a love of nature or a great love of and compassion for animals.

Weeps Easily

He may weep easily and can cry when talking about his problems to the homeopath (pulsatilla), and he often feels better after crying.

Medorrhinum lists prominently under rubrics:

• Mind: weeping when telling about one’s illness,
• Mind: weeping ameliorates

Timidity

And although most are extroverted, sometimes this Medorrhinum sensitivity can translate into timidity.

About Animals

While some are animal lovers, the Medorrhinum passion can sometimes spill over into cruelty toward animals.

Lacks Consistency or Balance

It also makes sense that maintaining such high levels of intensity and enthusiasm over a sustained period would be hard. That is why another defining feature of the Medorrhinum type is that he lacks consistency or balance — he tends to be quite erratic.

Unpredicatable & Inconsistent

He is unpredictable. Other than his well-known tendency to be a night owl, there’s no predictable pattern to his otherwise chaotic surges of passion. Sometimes his eager zest for life lasts for days or even weeks. Sometimes he crashes and burns without warning.

Different Moods

This inconsistency can apply to both his energy level and his emotional states. His energy can be high or low, and his mood may be up or down. He can be alternately happy, sad, excited, or bored. He can be enthused and ready for action, or indolent and disinterested. He can be sympathetic and compassionate, or self-centered and irritable.

The bottom line is that Medorrhinum’s energy and exuberance are notoriously erratic and streaky.

Anxious and Impatient

Another aspect of the Medorrhinum type is that he can be anxious and impatient. He often feels hurried and in a rush. Some describe having a “wild feeling in the head.” Some repertories list this under the Head section, while others list it under the Mind section.

• Also Read: Argenticum Nitricum – An Anxious Remedy

Distorted Sense of Time

Interestingly, Medorrhinum may complain of having a distorted sense of time. Time tends to move along too slowly. That’s why Medorrhinum is listed prominently under the rubrics:

• Time passes too slowly
• Delusion that everything seems unreal
• Mind – as if in a dream

Mental  Confusion

Along with this feeling of unreality, some complain of mental confusion, of being spacey or foggy-headed. They can be forgetful and may complain of weak memory. He can forget words or names; sometimes he forgets mid-sentence what he was about to say.

Medorrhinum is listed prominently in the rubrics:

• Mind – forgetfulness for words,
• Mind – forgetfulness for names,
• Mind – forgetfulness for what he is about to say
• Mind – forgetfulness for his own name (the strongest remedy under this rubric is Med.)

Naturally, Medorrhinum’s overall erratic nature — his hurriedness, the wild feeling in his head, his sense of time distortion, and his general forgetfulness — can occur in different combinations and to different degrees depending upon the individual case.

Fears of Medorrhinum

Fear of Dark

Now, let’s finish the mentals with the Medorrhinum fears. While fear is not a major feature of this remedy, perhaps the most common one is a fear of the dark. Somewhat related to this is a fear of things lurking under the dark surface of the ocean.

Delusion: Someone is Behind Him

Another similar fear and keynote clue for Medorrhinum is a feeling that someone is behind him. He senses that someone is there and turns around to look. Medorrhinum lists prominently under rubrics:

• Fear that someone is behind him
• Delusion that someone or something is behind him

Fear: Something Bad Will Happen – Fear of Losing Mind

There can also be a fear that something bad will happen, and given Medorrhinum’s erratic state of mind, it makes sense that there can be a fear of losing one’s mind. This may be expressed as a fear of going crazy or becoming insane.

Most of these fears reflect the idea that Medorrhinum has a strong imagination.

And that he isn’t able to fully trust his own mind or perceptions.

General Symptoms & Modalities of Medorrhinum

Warm-Blooded

For starters, most Medorrhinum cases are decidedly warm-blooded. The feet are hot, and they sleep with their feet uncovered (like Sulphur). These are the kids, for example, who take their shoes and socks off as soon as they get home from school.

Aggravated By Cold, Damp Weather

In spite of being warm-blooded, Met’s symptoms are aggravated by damp weather, especially cold damp weather. Remember that this aggravation from damp is a distinguishing feature of the sycotic Medorrhinum.

Ameliorated At Ocean

Furthermore, in spite of being aggravated by dampness, Medorrhinum is ameliorated by being at the ocean. Even though an ocean environment tends to be damp, it does not aggravate his symptoms. He actually feels better from being near the ocean and better from bathing in the ocean. Conditions like asthma and eczema will magically improve while being near the seashore. Many Medorrhinum types will say that they love the ocean and that it is their favorite place to be.

Medorrhinum lists prominently under both generalities:

• Seashore air ameliorates
• Bathing or washing in the sea ameliorates.

Late-Night Persons

Another reliable clue that points to Medorrhinum is that they tend to be late-night persons. They love the night, they come alive at night, and they feel energized at night. They feel better at night; sometimes they even stay up all night long. It’s important to ask about biorhythm patterns. I routinely ask my patients whether they tend to be more morning, day, or night persons, and I also ask if there’s any bad time of day when they may feel tired or grouchy. The information elicited by these questions can be quite helpful.

Food Preferences (Sour, Sweet, Icy Cold, Unripe Fruits)

In terms of food likes and dislikes, Medorrhinum can have a specific and notorious craving for oranges or orange juice, and this often generalizes to other similarly sour things, especially when the sour in question is citrus sour. So he likes oranges, grapefruits, and other citrus fruits.

He likes fruit before it has fully ripened, during the phase when it tends to be greener. He likes crispy, crunchy, tart apples. I recently found a listing of types of apples rated according to their tartness. The top-rated apples are Granny Smiths first, then Pacific Rose, then McIntosh, and then Empires.

Medorrhinum also likes the combinations of sweet and sour and salty and sour. He also likes ice and ice-cold drinks and alcoholic drinks. So an icy cold tropical drink that is both sweet and citrusy-sour can be an ideal drink for the Medorrhinum type.

A Case of Psoriasis Treated With Medorrhinum Based on Fruit Preferences

I once saw a young woman who had been diagnosed with a severe case of psoriasis. However, when I examined her skin, they looked more like warts to me. She literally had thousands of warts covering almost her entire body. When I asked about her food desires, she embarrassingly told me about her secret passion: she loved to put unripe green bananas in the freezer. When she had a craving, she would take one out and eat it frozen. To my amazement, the so-called psoriasis completely cleared up within a few months while taking periodic doses of Medorrhinum.

Salty, Fatty Foods & Fish,

Additional Medorrhinum preferences include salty things, fatty foods, and fish. Given his exuberant nature, it’s not surprising that Medorrhinum can have frequent cravings for many different things.

Aversions to Foods

Now there’s also one specific Medorrhinum food aversion that essentially boils down to an issue of texture. He is averse to slimy things, especially to eggplant and okra.

History of Gonorrhea

An additional important clue is a prior history of Gonorrhea in either the patient or a parent. Naturally, this may be a difficult thing to elicit given the general secrecy and shame associated with sexually transmitted conditions. Medorrhinum also has a tendency toward chronicity of symptoms. So when we see a history of Gonorrhea in a person with chronic illness, we must think of Medorrhinum. On the other hand, it’s not necessary for there to be a history of Gonorrhea to successfully prescribe this remedy.

A Few More Valuable Generals

A few other valuable general clues include:

• amelioration from discharges,
• a strong sex drive,
• a tendency to nail biting,
• Genu pectoral sleeping position in kids
• The famous Medorrhinum sleep position, with the knees tucked up against the chest. Furthermore, this position can help ameliorate certain symptoms. When asthma symptoms flare up, for example, the Medorrhinum patient may experience relief by getting into the knee-chest position. I’ve had full-grown adults get down on the floor in my office in order to demonstrate this position to me.

Physical Indications/Symptoms of Medorrhinum

Now let’s talk about Medorrhinum’s physical indications. Being a deep-acting nosode, Medorrhinum is a remedy for a very broad range of conditions, especially chronic conditions.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in a Child

We think of this remedy when we see a serious chronic disease manifesting at an early age. So when we see juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in a child, for example, we think of Medorrhinum.

Heart Diseases in Younger Adults

It may be indicated for heart disease that develops in younger adults.

Main Physical Pathologies of Medorrhinum

This remedy is often chosen by virtue of its mental profile and the generals and modalities. For this reason, I’ll give just a summary of some of the main physical conditions that point to Medorrhinum. Generally speaking, most of Medorrhinum’s physical pathology tends to focus on the genito-urinary system, the nervous system, the skin and mucous membranes, and the musculoskeletal system.

Genital-Urinary Problems

Medorrhinum can be indicated for just about any male or female genital-urinary problem that you can think of, especially, as previously stated, when we see a history of Gonorrhea or indications of the sycotic miasm. Of course, the books tend to refer to this as a history of suppressed Gonorrhea. The reality, though, is that any case of Gonorrhea, treated appropriately by conventional medicine or not, is likely to have been suppressed and to have left its mark or energetic scar, if you will, on the constitution of the individual in question. It’s sufficient, therefore, to conclude that any history of Gonorrhea is a strong indicator for the sycotic group of remedies, the main nosode of which is Medorrhinum.

It may be indicated for cystitis, urethritis, vaginitis, chlamydia, pelvic inflammatory disease(PID), nephritis, or any urinary tract or sexually transmitted infection in women, whether acute or chronic. In men, it may be indicated for either acute or chronic urethritis, orchitis, epididymitis, or prostatitis. It can even be indicated for urethral stricture. It’s also a remedy for genital herpes and genital warts. The literature often refers to these benign, warty growths related to the sycotic miasm as excrescences. Recall our metaphorical reference to such growths as exuberant flesh.

Fishy Smell of Discharges

The odor associated with Medorrhinum and discharges can sometimes serve as an additional clue, whether we’re talking about a urethral discharge, a vaginal discharge, or even perspiration in general. These discharges are often described as having a fishy smell.

Mucus Membranes: Chronic Runny Nose & Postnasal Drip

Medorrhinum is also a remedy for chronic runny noses in children and postnasal drip in kids or adults. The accumulation of mucus creates a tendency to clear the throat frequently and may be associated with a susceptibility to developing either acute or chronic sinusitis. Remember that Medorrhinum discharges tend to ameliorate, and the suppression of those discharges can aggravate. In other words, drugs like antihistamines, antibiotics, and decongestants may clear up a discharge, but this can result in an overall worsening in the state of health of the Medorrhinum type.

Respiratory Issues (Asthma, Bronchitis, Sinusitis)

Other Medorrhinum respiratory conditions include chronic bronchitis and asthma. The coughing, wheezing, or difficulty breathing associated with these conditions tends to be relieved by assuming the genu pectoral position and by being in close proximity to the ocean.

Skin & Musculoskeletal Symptoms

A few additional specific clues that point to Medorrhinum include:

• sensitivity of the soles of the feet that makes it painful to walk,
• severe diaper rash in infants,
• swelling of the ankles,
• and an unusual type of constipation that is ameliorated by leaning backward to be able to pass stool.
• Medorrhinum is the only remedy listed under rubric: rectum constipation: must lean far back to pass stool.

Reiter’s Syndrome

Lastly, the main remedy indicated for Reiter’s syndrome is Medorrhinum. This is an older term for a condition now conventionally referred to as reactive arthritis. It’s defined as arthritic inflammation and swelling that develops after an infection somewhere else in the body. The classic triad of Reiter’s syndrome is a combination of urethritis, conjunctivitis, and arthritis. So whenever we see arthritis or chronic inflammation associated with either conjunctivitis or a UTI-like urethritis, we must consider Medorrhinum.

Remedy Relationships of Medorrhinum

Now let’s talk about remedy relationships. Remedies complementary to Medorrhinum include Thuja and Natrum Sulfuricum. These are the three main representative remedies of the sycotic miasm. Additional complementary remedies include Cannabis Indica and Pulsatilla. Remedies worth comparing to Medorrhinum include:

• Sulfur: warm-blooded, uncovers the feet in bed, can have a lot of food cravings, and has a brash and forward personality.

• Lachesis: also a late-night person, is warm-blooded, has a strong sex drive, and feels better from discharges.

• Natrum Sulphuricum: also likes crispy, tart, and green apples, and is aggravated by dampness.

• Calcarea Sulphurica: likes sour or unripe fruit, is warm-blooded, and tends to have a strong personality.

• Phosphorus: happy, fun-loving, likes ice-cold drinks, and can be spacey, confused, and distractible.

• Nux Vomica: intense, passionate, has a strong libido, and can overindulge in food, alcohol, and drugs.

• Cannabis Indica: sycotic remedy, confused and spacey, indulges in mind-altering drugs, and experiences time distortions as if time is moving too slowly.

• Tuberculinum: fits children with behavior issues. Both Tuberculinum and Medorrhinum are thrill-seekers, averse to being bored. The difference is that Tuberculinum seeks excitement by flirting with danger, while for Medorrhinum, thrill-seeking means having a wild and crazy fun time. Tuberculinum is willful, defiant, and hyper. Medorrhinum is happy, fun-loving, and hyper. Unlike Tuberculinum, Medorrhinum is usually not intentionally malicious. It’s more accurate to say that when Medorrhinum becomes aggressive, it’s because he can’t control his passionate emotions and impulses.

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