Spongia Tosta Materia Medica
Prepared from roasted and powdered skeleton of marine sponge of Mediterranean sea. They are roasted brown not black.
Contains 2 Ingredients
Iodine – used to treat goiter in 13th Century (thyroid dysfunction)
Bromine – good for respiratory tract problems e.g. asthma
Proven by S. Hahnemann because of its effects on the goiter and he wanted to investigate further. Iodine content also effects other lymphatic glands, particularly larynx and respiratory tract problems which showed up in the provings.
Spongia has an affinity for larynx, trachea, thyroid, testes and heart Characteriestics
Chief characteristics are : BURNING, DRYNESS, CONSTRICTION
Key Features in Acute Cases
- marked dryness of mucus membranes
- respiratory problems – dryness felt in throat à bronchi
- cannot bring up any mucous
- cannot breathe, feel will suffocate
- wakes at night feeling they will die
- cough – hard ringing metallic sound described as “sawing” sound
- tightness of larynx with constriction that feels like throat has been grasped
and cannot breath or inhale.
Cough Particular to Spongia
- great deal of hoarseness
- tendency to dryness
- painful
- feels like plug in the throat
- good for croup BEFORE midnight
Modalities
Cough - < sweets, cold drinks, singing, talking
- < dry cold wind
- < before midnight
- > warm drinks and warm food
Aggravated : in a warm room, sleep into aggravation
- dryness
- rawness and burning felt in larynx
- sense of suffocation occurs during sleep which wakes them up feel ing
suffocated
Mentals
- irresistible desire to sing with excessive mirth
- anxiety as if some misfortune would befall them
- fear of future
- fear of death
- anxiety with fear of death which occurs with suffocation feeling
- anxiety with pain in heart region
- fear of suffocation
Generalities
- could have a goiter
- tendency for hardness and enlargement of glands
- sensitivity in neck amplified when head turned sideways due to feeling of
suffocation
- swelling and inflammation of testes: orchitis, epididymitis
Infection of Heart
- valvular heart disease
- cannot lie down with head low
- hypertrophy of heart
- suffocated feeling due to hear condition
used for ACUTE respiratory tract infections e.g. croup, bronchitis
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND OTHER REMEDIES TO USE FOR A COUGH
Aconite
- After exposure to dry cold wind with high fever and fearfulness
- Breathlessness and hot skin, begin with Aconite
- If this does not work or hold and the cough continues then consider
Spongia Tosta
Hepar Sulph
- If the cough starts to loosen but still does not recover use Hep Sulph
- After midnight and early hours of the morning
- More coarse, rattling sound with mucus
Coccus Cacti
- Characteristic feature – it produces white stringy mucus
- Racking cough and then vomits up this mucus (like white of an egg)
- Tickle in the back of throat
- Child can wake in middle of night with cough
- Sensation of thread hanging down back of throat
Corallium Rubrum
- Particular cough that comes in rapid succession described as a minute
or tommy/machine gun (rapid firing cough)
- Child tries to breath then starts to cough and almost asphyxiates
- No gap between fits to get breath
- Can pass out or cough up bits of mucus
Other cough remedies – Stannum, Sanguinaria, Sanicula, Sambucas
Contains 2 Ingredients
Iodine – used to treat goiter in 13th Century (thyroid dysfunction)
Bromine – good for respiratory tract problems e.g. asthma
Proven by S. Hahnemann because of its effects on the goiter and he wanted to investigate further. Iodine content also effects other lymphatic glands, particularly larynx and respiratory tract problems which showed up in the provings.
Spongia has an affinity for larynx, trachea, thyroid, testes and heart Characteriestics
Chief characteristics are : BURNING, DRYNESS, CONSTRICTION
Key Features in Acute Cases
- marked dryness of mucus membranes
- respiratory problems – dryness felt in throat à bronchi
- cannot bring up any mucous
- cannot breathe, feel will suffocate
- wakes at night feeling they will die
- cough – hard ringing metallic sound described as “sawing” sound
- tightness of larynx with constriction that feels like throat has been grasped
and cannot breath or inhale.
Cough Particular to Spongia
- great deal of hoarseness
- tendency to dryness
- painful
- feels like plug in the throat
- good for croup BEFORE midnight
Modalities
Cough - < sweets, cold drinks, singing, talking
- < dry cold wind
- < before midnight
- > warm drinks and warm food
Aggravated : in a warm room, sleep into aggravation
- dryness
- rawness and burning felt in larynx
- sense of suffocation occurs during sleep which wakes them up feel ing
suffocated
Mentals
- irresistible desire to sing with excessive mirth
- anxiety as if some misfortune would befall them
- fear of future
- fear of death
- anxiety with fear of death which occurs with suffocation feeling
- anxiety with pain in heart region
- fear of suffocation
Generalities
- could have a goiter
- tendency for hardness and enlargement of glands
- sensitivity in neck amplified when head turned sideways due to feeling of
suffocation
- swelling and inflammation of testes: orchitis, epididymitis
Infection of Heart
- valvular heart disease
- cannot lie down with head low
- hypertrophy of heart
- suffocated feeling due to hear condition
used for ACUTE respiratory tract infections e.g. croup, bronchitis
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS AND OTHER REMEDIES TO USE FOR A COUGH
Aconite
- After exposure to dry cold wind with high fever and fearfulness
- Breathlessness and hot skin, begin with Aconite
- If this does not work or hold and the cough continues then consider
Spongia Tosta
Hepar Sulph
- If the cough starts to loosen but still does not recover use Hep Sulph
- After midnight and early hours of the morning
- More coarse, rattling sound with mucus
Coccus Cacti
- Characteristic feature – it produces white stringy mucus
- Racking cough and then vomits up this mucus (like white of an egg)
- Tickle in the back of throat
- Child can wake in middle of night with cough
- Sensation of thread hanging down back of throat
Corallium Rubrum
- Particular cough that comes in rapid succession described as a minute
or tommy/machine gun (rapid firing cough)
- Child tries to breath then starts to cough and almost asphyxiates
- No gap between fits to get breath
- Can pass out or cough up bits of mucus
Other cough remedies – Stannum, Sanguinaria, Sanicula, Sambucas