Crotalus horridus
Crotalus horridus horridus · Rattlesnake, pit viper. · Animal · Viperidae
Those who respond best to Crotalus tend to be sluggish and melancholic. They are prone to forgetfulness, and may lose their way in their own neighborhood, or even forget the names of close friends. An aversion to family members is typical of these people, and a desire for meat, especially pork, is common.
Crotalus is considered to help stop bleeding from any orifice, making it highly useful for hemorrhaging. It is given following the onset of a state of total collapse, which may be due to a severe septic state, a stroke, or a heart attack. In addition, it may help cases of delirium, throat infection, or retinal hemorrhage.
Key symptoms
- bleeding, possibly from every orifice
- septicemia or even septic shock
- aversion to tight collars
Worse (aggravation)
- right side
- open air
- evening and morning
- in spring
- coming on of warm weather
- yearly
- on awaking
- damp and wet
Rattlesnake
Snake poisons are supposed to be chemically Cyan hydrates of Soda and other salts. Alcohol is the natural solvent of these salts and is an antidote. Has a profound trophic action. Old age nutritional troubles.
Low septic states. General disorganization of the blood, hæmorrhages and jaundice. A crotalin injection decreases the rate of coagulation of the blood. In epilepsy the average rate is far greater than in normal conditions. Blood decomposition, hæmorrhages (dark fluid that forms no clots), tendency to carbuncles, malignant scarlatina, yellow fever, the plague, cholera, give opportunity to use this remedy. Hæmorrhagic diathesis. Acts as a sedative. Sleeps into his symptoms. More right-sided in its action.
Mind
Weeping mood; clouded perception and memory; impatient. Loquacious, with desire to escape. Sadness. Delusions of cerebral decay.
Head
Vertigo, with weakness and trembling. Dull heavy occipital pain, on right side and right eye. Headache with pain in heart on lying on left side. Headache; must walk on tip-toe to avoid jarring.
Eyes
Very sensitive to light, especially lamp light. Yellow color of eyes. Illusions; blue colors. Ciliary neuralgia; tearing, boring pain, as if a cut had been made around eye. For absorption of intra-ocular hæmorrhages, into the vitreous, but particularly for non-inflammatory retinal hæmorrhages. Diplobia.
Ears
Auditory vertigo. Blood oozes from ears. Feeling of stoppage in right ear.
Nose
Epistaxis, blood black and stringy, ozæna, after exanthemata or syphilis.
Face
Acne. Lips swollen and numb. Leaden-colored and yellow face. Lockjaw.
Mouth
Tongue red and small, but feels swollen. Tongue fiery red, dry in center, smooth and polished. Moldy smell of breath. Fills up with saliva. Tongue when protruding, goes to right. Spasmodic grinding of teeth at night. Cancer of tongue with hæmorrhage.
Throat
Dry, swollen, dark red. Spasm of œsophagus; cannot swallow any solid substance. Tight constriction. Gangrenous, with much swelling.
Stomach
Intolerance of clothing around stomach. Unable to retain anything; violent vomiting of food; bilious vomiting, vomiting of blood. Constant nausea and vomiting every month, after menstruation. Cannot lie on right side, without vomiting dark-green matter. Black or coffee-grounds vomiting. Cancer of stomach with vomiting of bloody, slimy mucus. Trembling, fluttering feeling below the epigastrium. Intolerance of clothing about epigastrium. Faintness and sinking at stomach. Ulceration of the stomach. Atonic dyspepsia. Gastritis in chronic alcoholism. Hungry, craves stimulants, sugar; averse to meat.
Abdomen
Distended, hot, and tender. Pain in region of liver.
Stool
Black, thin, offensive, like coffee-grounds. Intestinal hæmorrhage; blood dark, fluid, non-coagulable. Blood oozes from rectum when standing or walking.
Female
Prolonged menses. Dysmenorrhœa; pain extends down thighs, with aching in region of heart. Uterine hæmorrhage with faintness at stomach. Puerperal fever; offensive lochia. Phlegmasia alba dolens. Sensation as though uterus would drop out. Painful drawing in uterine ligaments. Cannot keep legs still.
Urinary
Dark, bloody urine. Casts. Inflamed kidney. Albuminous, dark, scanty (Merc cor).
Heart
Action feeble, pulse tremulous. Palpitation, especially at menstrual period. Trembling feeling of heart.
Respiratory
Cough, with bloody expectoration. Tickling from a dry spot in larynx.
Extremities
Hands tremble, swollen. Lower extremities go to sleep easily. Right-sided paralysis.
Fever
Malignant fevers of a hæmorrhagic or putrescent character. Low bilious remittents. Yellow fever. Bloody sweat. Cerebro-spinal meningitis (Cicuta; Cup acet). Cold sweats.
Skin
Swelling and discoloration, skin tense and shows every tint of color, with excruciating pain. Vesication. Sallow. Yellow color of the whole body. Great sensitiveness of skin of right half of body. Purpura hæmorrhagica. Hæmorrhage from every part of body. Bloody sweat. Chilblains, felons. Dissecting wounds. Pustular eruptions. Insect stings. Post-vaccination eruptions. Bad effects of vaccination. Lymphangitis and septicæmia. Boils, carbuncles, and eruptions are surrounded by purplish, mottled skin and œdema. Anthrax. Sore sensation relieved by pressure.
Sleep
Dreams of the dead. Starting in sleep. Yawning. Smothering sensation when awaking.
Modalities
Worse, right side; open air; evening and morning; in spring, coming on of warm weather; yearly; on awaking; damp and wet; jar.
Relationship
Compare: Bothrops; Naja (more nervous phenomena); Lachesis (more markedly worse on left side); Elaps (preferable in otorrhœa and affections of right lung); Crotalus cascavella (thoughts and dreams of death. Paralysis of articulation, embarrassed stertorous breathing and semi-consciousness. A magnetic state is produced; cutting sensation all around eyeball). Bungarus-Krait--(poliomyelitis).
Antidote: Lach; Alcohol. Radiant heat; camphor.
Dose
Third to sixth potency.
Aspect
The first impression would be to rebel against the use of such substances as Crotalus, Lachesis, Apis and other animal poisons, and it is true that the lay mind must look with something like horror upon their administration; but when they are properly used and when we consider the dreadfulness of the necessity demanding them, and also when we have ascertained that there can be no substitute when demanded, and again that they are potentized and changed until they are perfectly pure, because reduced to a state of simple substance, the horror passes away from the mind.
It is true that the diseases that call for the use of such substances as Crotalus are very grave. When at the bedside of a Crotalus patient one feels that death is very near, the subject is horrible to look upon, and the mother in regard to her child, or the husband, would immediately say,
Rattle-snake. N. O. Crotalidæ. The Rattle-snake of North America. Symptoms of C. Durissus as well as C. Horridus are included in the pathogenesis. Trituration of sugar of milk saturated with the venom. Solution of the venom in glycerine.
Clinical
Amblyopia. Apoplexy. Appendicitis. Bilious fever. Boils. Cancers. Carbuncles. Cerebro-spinal meningitis. Chancre. Ciliary neuralgia. Convulsions. Delirium tremens. Dementia. Diphtheria. Dysmenorrhœa. Dyspepsia. Ears, discharges from. Ecchymosis. Epilepsy. Eyes, affections of. Erysipelas. Face, eruption on; distortion of. Hæmaturia. Hæmorrhagic diathesis. Headache. Heart, affections of. Herpes. Hydrophobia. Intestinal hæmorrhage. Jaundice. Keratitis. Liver, disorders of. Lungs, affections of. Mastitis. Measles. Milk-leg. Meningitis. Ovaries, affections of. Ozæna. Palpitation. Peritonitis. Perityphlitis. Phlebitis. Psoriasis palmaris. Purpura. Pyæmia. Remittent fever. Rheumatism. Scarlatina. Sleeplessness. Small-pox. Stings. Sunstroke. Syphilis. Tetanus. …
Poison of Rattlesnake (Crotalidae)
Is indicated in strumous, debilitated, haemorrhagic, broken-down constitutions; during zymotic diseases; in inebriates; tendency to carbuncles or blood boils (Anthr.). Diseases caused by a previous low state of the system; low septic typhoid or malarial fever; chronic alcoholism; exhausted vital force; genuine collapse. Apoplexy; apoplectic convulsions in inebriates, haemorrhagic or broken down constitutions. Haemorrhagic diathesis; blood flows from eyes, ears, nose, and every orifice of the body; bloody sweat. Yellow color of conjunctiva; clears up vision after keratitis, or kerato-iritis. Malignant jaundice; haematic rather than hepatic. Purpura haemorrhagica; comes on suddenly from all orifices, skin, nails, gums. Tongue fiery red, smooth and polished (Pyr.); intensely swollen. Malignant diphtheria or scarlatina; oedema or gangrene of fauces or tonsils; pain < from empty swallowing; if vomiting or diarrhoea come on. Prostration of vital force; pulse scarely felt; blood …
Sight and Eyes
Blood exudes from the eyes.
Nose
Nose-bleed, also from all orifices of the body.
Chill, Fever, and Sweat
Yellow fever; haemorrhagic tendency, oozing of blood from every orifice, and even pores.
Skin
Yellow color of whole body, malignant jaundice; dark haemorrhages from nose, mouth, etc.; dark, scanty urine.
Generalities
Hemorrhages of decomposed blood from every outlet of the body, even bloody sweat.
Constitution and Temperament
Haemorrhagic diathesis; blood flows from eyes, ears, nose and every orifice of the body; bloody sweat.
Phatak's chapter on Crotalus horridus is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
