Dolichos pruriens
Mucuna pruriens · Plant · Fabaceae
Dolichos Pruriens suits individuals with intense, maddening itching without visible eruption, predominantly right-sided, with liver and skin involvement. Haemorrhoidal diathesis and senile pruritus are characteristic constitutional features. Exalted nervous sensibility runs through the remedy.
Key symptoms
- Intense itching without eruption anywhere on the body
- Senile pruritus
- Pain in throat as if a splinter embedded, worse swallowing, below right angle of jaw
- Constipation with intense itching and bloated abdomen
- White stools with swelling of liver
- Haemorrhoids with burning sensation
- Jaundice with yellow spots, itching excessively at night
- Herpes zoster
Worse (aggravation)
- Night worsens itching and jaundice
- Scratching
- Right side predominantly affected
Cowhage (DOLICHOS PURIENS - MUCUNA)
A right-sided medicine, with pronounced liver and skin symptoms. A general intense itching without eruption. Exalted nervous sensibility. Senile pruritus. Hæmorrhoidal diathesis.
Throat
Pain in throat, worse swallowing, below right angle of jaw, as if splinter were imbedded vertically. Pain in gums prevents sleep.
Abdomen
Colic from getting feet wet. Constipation, with intense itching; bloated abdomen. White stools. Swelling of liver. Hæmorrhoids, with burning sensation.
Skin
Intense itching, with no swelling or rash; worse across shoulders, also about elbows and knees and hairy parts. Jaundice. Yellow in spots; itching excessively at night. Herpes zoster (Ars).
Modalities
Worse, at night, scratching, right side.
Relationship
Compare: Rhus; Bell; Hep; Nit ac; Fagopyr.
Dose
Sixth potency. Tincture, drop doses, in hæmorrhoids.
Dolichos pruriens. Mucuna pruriens. Cowhage. Cow-itch. N. O. Leguminosæ. Trituration or tincture of whole pod.
Clinical
Cough. Dentition. Gums, neuralgia of. Herpes zoster. Jaundice. Jaundice, irritation of. Jaw, pain in. Neuralgia. Pruritus. Sore throat.
Characteristics
The most characteristic symptoms of Dolichos are─a general intense itching without eruption, < by scratching; and a pain in the throat on right side below angle of jaw as if a splinter were embedded vertically in it. It is mainly a right-side medicine, and hence its relation to the liver. It corresponds to exalted nervous sensibility, as in dentition. Gums intensely sensitive; seem to itch. Kraft has recorded (N. A. J. H., 1890, p. 20) a striking cure with Dolichos 1,200 (Kent) of a woman who had symptoms of jaundice, white stools, and desperate itching, preventing sleep at night. There was, in addition, enormous distension of abdomen with continuous rattling of wind, intolerance of anything tight round neck or body; intense …
Skin
Jaundice with white stools, and intense itching on the skin.
Skin
Violent itching all over body, without any visible eruption.
Phatak's chapter on Dolichos pruriens is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
