Cina maritima
Artemisia cina · Levant wormseed, European wormseed, Tartarian southernwood,Artemisia cina · Plant · Asteraceae
Cina is typically perceived as a children’s remedy, and is given for intestinal worms or muscle twitches, associated with great irritability when scolded or in discomfort. Those affected cannot bear to be touched, held, or even observed— they often consider themselves ugly. Restlessness, a frantic state of mind, picking the nose, and grinding the teeth are typical symptoms in those for whom Cina is appropriate. Sleep is often fitful and plagued by night terrors. All symptoms may be worse at night.
These people may have an “anxiety of conscience,” a groundless feeling of having done something wrong, which manifests itself as touchiness and obstinacy. They may be survivors of childhood abuse.
In addition to its primary use for worms, Cina has also been given to treat convulsions and seizures in children. Today it is still given as a treatment for worms, as well as for temper tantrums, violent coughing, muscle twitches, and sleep problems in children.
Key symptoms
- teeth-grinding
- irritability and touchiness
- temper tantrums
- ravenous appetite
- desire to lie on the hands and knees
- itchy nose that is constantly rubbed
Worse (aggravation)
- looking fixedly at an object
- from worms
- at night
- in sun
- in summer
Better (amelioration)
- Lying on abdomen
- Wiping eyes
- Motion
- Shaking head
- Rocking
Worm-seed (CINA)
This is a children's remedy,-big, fat, rosy, scrofulous, corresponding to many conditions that may be referred to intestinal irritation, such as worms and accompanying complaints. An irritability of temper, variable appetite, grinding of teeth, and even convulsions, with screams and violent jerkings of the hands and feet, are all within its range of action. The Cina patient is hungry, cross, ugly, and wants to be rocked. Pain in shocks. Skin sensitive to touch.
Mind
Ill-humor. Child very cross; does not want to be touched, or crossed, or carried. Desires many things, but rejects everything offered. Abnormal consciousness, as if having committed some evil deed.
Head
Headache, alternating with pain in abdomen. Relieved by stooping (Mezer). Pain in head when using eyes.
Eyes
Dilated pupils; yellow vision. Weak sight from masturbation. Strabismus from abdominal irritation. Eyestrain, especially when presbyopia sets in. Pulsation of superciliary muscle.
Ears
Digging and scratching in ears.
Nose
Itching of nose all the time. Wants to rub it and pick at it. Bores at nose till it bleeds.
Face
Intense, circumscribed redness of cheeks. Pale, hot, with dark rings around eyes. Cold perspiration. White and bluish about the mouth. Grits teeth during sleep. Choreic movements of face and hands.
Stomach
Gets hungry soon after a meal. Hungry, digging, gnawing sensation. Epigastric pain; worse, first waking in morning and before meals. Vomiting and diarrhœa immediately after eating or drinking. Vomiting with a clean tongue. Desires many and different things. Craving for sweets.
Abdomen
Twisting pain about navel (Spig). Bloated and hard abdomen.
Stool
White mucus, like small pieces of popped corn, preceded by pinching colic. Itching of anus (Teuc). Worms (Sabad; Naphth; Nat phos).
Urine
Turbid, white; turns milky on standing. Involuntary at night.
Female
Uterine hæmorrhage before puberty.
Respiratory
Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.
Extremities
Twitching and jerking distortion of limbs, trembling. Paralyzed shocks; patient will jump suddenly, as though in pain. Child throws arms from side to side. Nocturnal convulsions. Sudden inward jerking of fingers of right hand. Child stretches out feet spasmodically. Left foot in constant spasmodic motion.
Sleep
Child gets on hands and knees in sleep; on abdomen. Night terrors of children; cries out, screams, wakes frightened. Troubles while yawning. Screams and talks in sleep. Grits teeth.
Fever
Light chill. Much fever, associated with clean tongue. Much hunger; colicky pains; chilliness, with thirst. Cold sweat on forehead, nose, and hands. In Cina fever, face is cold and hands warm.
Modalities
Worse, looking fixedly at an object, from worms, at night, in sun, in summer.
Relationship
Compare: Santonin--(often preferable in worm affections; same symptoms as Cina; corresponding to the "pain in shocks" produced by Cina. Visual illusions, yellow sight; violet light not recognized, colors not distinguishable. Urine deep saffron color. Spasms and twitchings, chronic gastric and intestinal troubles sometimes removed by a single dose (physiological) of Santonin. Dahlke). Helmintochortos-Worm-moss (acts very powerfully on intestinal worms, especially the lumbricoid). Teucrium; Ignat; Cham; Spig.
Antidote: Camph; Caps.
Dose
Third attenuation. For nervous irritable children, thirtieth and two-hundredth preferable. Santonin in first (with care) and third trituration.
Cina is pre-eminently a child's remedy, but it is suitable for conditions in adults that are seldom thought of. A marked feature running through is touchiness, mental and physical.
Child
The child wants something, but does not know what. The child is aggravated by touch and even by being looked at, and is worse from seeing strangers. The skin is sensitive to touch. The scalp and back of the neck, the shoulders and arms are so sensitive, that it is almost a soreness as if bruised. The hyperesthesia is both mental and physical. The old routine of giving Cina for worms need not go into your notes, for if you are guided by symptoms the patient will be cured and the worms will go.
The unexpanded flower-heads (commonly called "seeds") of several varieties of Artemisia maritima. Semen cinæ. Flores Cinæ. Artemisia contra. Wormseed. N. O. Compositæ. Tincture.
Clinical
Abdomen, distended. Anæmia. Anus, irritation of. Asthenopia. Asthma. Bronchitis. Borborygmi. Chorea. Colic. Convulsions. Cough. Dentition. Diarrhœa. Enuresis. Eyes, affections of. Hydrocephaloid. Intermittent fever. Leucorrhœa. Neuralgia. Remittent fever. Scarlatina. Sight, affections of. Spasms. Strabismus. Twitchings. Urine, milky. Whooping-cough. Worms.
Characteristics
Cina is the source of the alkaloid Santoninum. It is pre-eminently a worm medicine, as it causes all the symptoms which characterise helminthiasis both mental, nervous, and bodily. It corresponds more to the effects of lumbrici than to those of other worms. There is irritation of the nose, causing constant desire to rub, prick, or press into it. In children there is extreme ill-humour and naughtiness. Nothing pleases them for any length of …
Worm Seed. (Compositae)
Adapted to children with dark hair, very cross, irritable, ill-humored, want to be carried, but carrying gives no relief; does not want to be touched; cannot bear you to come hear it; averse to caresses; desires many things; but rejects everything offered (compare, Ant. t., Bry., Cham., Staph.). Constantly digging and boring at the nose; picks the nose all the time; itching of nose; rubs nose on pillow, or on shoulder of nurse (Mar. v.). Children, suffering from worms; pitiful weeping when awake, starts and screams during sleep; grinding of teeth (Cic., Sulph.); ascarides (Mar. v.). Face is pale; sickly white and bluish appearance around mouth; sickly, with dark rings under the eyes; one cheek red, the other pale (Cham.). Canine hunger: hungry soon after a full meal; craving for sweets and different things; refuses mother's milk. Urine; turbid when passed, turns milky and semi-solid after standing; white and turbid; involuntary. Cough: dry with sneezing; spasmodic, gagging in the morning; periodic, returning spring and fall. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on a paroxysm of coughing (Bry.).
Mind
Ill-humoured; cannot be quieted; averse to being caressed; rejects everything offered (children).
General Face
Face pale with sickly look about the eyes.
Sight and Eyes
Vision get dim, can see more clearly for a while after rubbing the eyes.
Nose
Constantly picking of boring the nose.
Mouth and Throat
Grinding of the teeth and tossing during sleep; always cross when awake.
Mouth and Throat
Frequent swallowing, as if to swallow something down the throat (worms).
Urinary Organs
The urine turns milky after standing a little.
Urinary Organs
Wetting the bed in children with vermiculous symptoms, such as picking or boring the nose, etc.
Respiratory Organs
Very frequent returns of a dry, short, hacking cough, followed by swallowing, as if something were rising into the throat (worms).
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Great hunger soon after eating; desires many and different things.
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Worm affections; face pale white 'about the mouth, boring nose with finger, grinding teeth at night, great hunger, restless sleep, fever, etc.
Phatak's chapter on Cina maritima is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
