Nux moschata
Myristica fragrans · Nutmeg,Myristica fragrans · Plant · Myristicaceae
Overexcited, exaggerated senses are typical in those who respond best to Nux mosch., as are rapidly alternating emotions, such as laughing and crying in turn. They may feel as if they have two heads, or as if one part of them is able to watch another part. These people have a sense of detachment from ordinary life, feeling as if they are wrapped in cotton wool.
The classic symptom picture for Nux mosch. is of confusion, dizziness, fainting, loss of coordination, and great, even overwhelming, drowsiness. Extreme “dryness” in the digestive system may be treated by the remedy, especially if there is the classic drowsiness. Symptoms typically include chronic constipation with fullness and bloating in the abdomen, and a tongue so dry that it sticks to the roof of the mouth.
Key symptoms
- Extreme dryness of mucous membranes and skin with no thirst
- Fainting fits with heart failure and cold extremities
- Irresistible drowsiness; staggers on trying to walk
- Tongue dry and adheres to roof of mouth; saliva like cotton
- Enormously distended abdomen; flatulent dyspepsia
- Confused, bewildered mind as in a dream; thinks she has two heads
Worse (aggravation)
Better (amelioration)
Nutmeg
Marked tendency to fainting fits, with heart failure. Cold extremities, extreme dryness of mucous membranes and skin. Strange feeling, with irresistible drowsiness. Indicanuria. General inclination to become unconscious during acute attacks. Lypothymia (Ignatia). Staggers on trying to walk.
Mind
Changeable; laughing and crying. Confused, impaired memory. Bewildered sense, as in a dream. Thinks she has two heads.
Head
Vertigo when walking in open air; aches from eating a little too much. Feeling of expansion, with sleepiness. Pulsating in head. Cracking sensation in head. Sensitive to slightest touch in a draught of air. Bursting headache; better hard pressure.
Eyes
Objects look larger, very distant, or vanish. Motes before eyes. Mydriasis.
Nose
Oversensitive to smell; nosebleed, dark blood; dry, stopped up.
Mouth
Very dry. Tongue adheres to roof of mouth; but no desire for water. Saliva like cotton (Berb). Toothache in pregnancy. Tongue numb, paralyzed. Dryness of throat.
Stomach
Excessively bloated. Flatulent dyspepsia. Hiccough, and craving for highly-seasoned food. Retrocession of gout to stomach.
Abdomen
Paralytic weakness of intestines. Enormously distended. Stool is soft, and yet is unable to expel it, even with long straining (Alum). Faintness during or after stool. Protruding piles.
Female
Uterine hæmorrhage. Menses too long, dark, thick. Leucorrhœa muddy and bloody. Suppression, with persistent fainting attacks and sleepiness (Kali c). Variableness of menstruation irregularity of time and quantity.
Respiratory
Loss of voice from walking against the wind (Hep). Cough when getting warm in bed.
Heart
Trembling, fluttering. Sensation as if something grasped heart. Palpitation; pulse intermits.
Extremities
Pain in right hip to knee; worse, motion, especially going upstairs. Rheumatism from getting feet wet, from exposure to draughts. Rheumatism relieved by dry, warm clothes. Fatigue on slight exertion.
Sleep
Great drowsiness (Indol). Complaints cause sleepiness. Coma.
Fever
Chill begins in left hand (Carbo). Chilliness and heat without thirst; want of perspiration. Dry skin and of inner parts, also of eyes, nose, lips, mouth, tongue, throat, etc.
Modalities
Worse, cold moist wind, cold food, cold washing, lying on painful side, motion, jar. Better, warmth, dry weather.
Relationship
Oleum myristicae-Oil of Nutmeg--(as a remedy for boils, felons, poisonous ulcers, it has been used in the 2x potency); Ornithogalum (flatulence, swollen feeling across lower chest; whenever she turns in bed, feels as if a bag of water turned also; gastric ulcer and cancer). Myristica Sebifera (phlegmonous inflammations, hastens suppuration; powerful antiseptic. Ulcerative tendency in all tissues. Said to act more powerfully than Hepar and Silica).
Compare: Nux v; Puls; Rhus; Ign; Asaf.
Antidotes: Camph; Gels; Valer.
Dose
First to sixth potency.
This is not a very great remedy; it has not a very wide range of usefulness, but it is often overlooked when needed.
We get into the habit of relying entirely on the polychrests.
The old women used to give nutmeg to hysterics, and wonderful to tell its provings justify its use. It must have had some palliative relation to the hysteria. The root is much stronger than the nut, in the same proportions, and contains the real medicinal qualities.
The patient appears to be dazed; there is a complete loss of memory; she is automatic in her actions. This is a wonderful state of the mind. She goes about the house performing her duties, but if interrupted, forgets what she has been doing, forgets that she was all day in conversation with her son; she has no recollection of past events.
Myristica fragrans. M. officinalis. M. moschata. Nutmeg. N. O. Myristicaceæ. Tincture of powdered seeds deprived of the Mace. [This is the official direction. But it would be well to make a tincture of the nut with the Mace, as some symptoms of Mace are included. Also a fresh nut and fresh plant tincture should be prepared and tested.]
Clinical
Abortion. Apoplexy. Asthma, hysteric. Brain, softening of; infantile affections of. Catalepsy. Chilblains. Cholerine. Clairaudience. Clairvoyance. Convulsions. Cough. Debility. Deltoid rheumatism. Dysmenia. Dyspepsia. Eructations. Eyes, sight weak. Fainting. Flatulence. Freckles. Frost-bite. Gastralgia. Hæmorrhage. Headache. Head, convulsive movement of. Hiccough. Hoarseness. Hysteria. Intermittent fever. Locomotor ataxy. Lumbago. Marasmus. Menopause. Menorrhagia. Menses, suppressed. Metrorrhagia. Mind, affections of. Pelvis, congestion of. Perspiration, bloody; hysterical. Pregnancy, complaints of. Ptosis. Puerperal convulsions. Renal colic. Rheumatism. *Sleep, …
Nutmeg. (Myristicaceae.)
Adapted especially to women and children of a nervous hysterical temperament (Ign.); to people with a dry skin who rarely perspire; complaints of pregnancy. Weakness of old age; dyspepsia of old people. Oversensitive: to light; of hearing; of smell; to touch. All the ailments are accompanied by drowsiness and sleepiness (Ant. t., Op.) or an inclination to faint even from slight pain (Hep.); complaints cause sleepiness. Stupor and insensibility; unconquerable sleep. Absence of mind; cannot think; great indifference to everything. Weakness or loss of memory (Anac., Lac c., Lyc.). Vanishing of thoughts while reading, talking or writing; using wrong words; does not recognize well known streets (Can. I., Lach.). Changeable humor; one moment laughing, the next crying (Croc., Ign.); "sudden change from grave to gay, from lively to serene" (Plat.). Dryness of eyes; too dry to close the lids. Great dryness of the mouth (Apis, Lach.); tongue so dry it adheres to roof of mouth; …
Mind
Thoughtless; slow thinking; irresolute; changing of the mind.
Head
Painless pulsation in the head, with fear to go to sleep.
Head
While eating soon satisfied, headache from eating a little too much.
Mouth and Throat
Greatly troubled with dryness in the mouth and throat while sleeping; always awake with a very dry tongue, but without thirst.
Stomach
While eating, soon satisfied; headache from eating a little too much.
Abdomen
Abdomen enormously distended after every meal.
Anus and Stool
Diarrhoea undigested or like chopped eggs, with loss of appetite,and great sleepiness, in summer, with children.
Female Sexual Organs
During menses great pressure in the back from within outward, abdominal bearing down and drawing in the limbs.
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Changeable mood, one moment laughing, the next crying.
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Thoughtless, slow-thinking, irresolute. changing the mind.
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Painless pulsation in the head, with fear to go to, sleep.
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During menses great pressure in the back, from within outwards, abdominal, bearing down and drawing in the limbs.
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Sudden hoarseness from walking against the wind.
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Fainting with palpitation of the heart, followed by sleep.
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Pain in sacrum when riding in a carriage.
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Diarrhoea undigested, like, chopped eggs, with loss of appetite and great sleepiness, in summer with children.
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While eating, soon satisfied; headache from eating a little too much.
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Drowsy with all complaints, particularly with pains; lies in stupid slumber.
Phatak's chapter on Nux moschata is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
