Colchicinum

(Colchicine) C22H25NO6

Synonyms: English: (S)-N-(5,6,7,9-Tetrahydro-1,2,3,10-tetramethoxy-9-oxobenzo[a] heptalen-7-yl) acetamide; French: Colchicine.

Description: Colchicinum is a major alkaloid of Colchicum autumnale L (Meadow saffron), the dried corm of which contains 0.3-0.5% of colchicine. The isolated compound is in the form of pale yellow, amorphous scales or powder. It is odorless, or nearly so, and darkens on exposure to light. It is extremely poisonous.

History and authority: Boericke: Materia Medica and Repertory.

Potencies: 3x and higher with Dispensing Alcohol.

Prescribed dose: Trituration form

Caution: Continued use to relieve rheumatic pain may lead to other side effects. Not to be used as daily dependance drug.

Clinical Use:

Intestinal catarrh with shreddy membranes;
Convulsive jerkings of right hand;
Rheumatic fever, gout, ends and pericarditis,
Pleurisy, arthritis deformans in early stages, intense pain of rheumatism

Connected Rubrics in Synthesis Repertory

CHEST – INFLAMMATION – Heart – Pericardium – rheumatic
EXTREMITIES – CLENCHING – Fingers
EXTREMITIES – INFLAMMATION – Joints – chronic
EXTREMITIES – JERKING – Hands – convulsive – right hand
EXTREMITIES – PAIN – Joints – gouty
EXTREMITIES – PAIN – Joints – rheumatic
EXTREMITIES – TWITCHING – Hands – convulsive
FEVER – FEVER, heat in general
GENERALS – COLLAPSE
GENERALS – CONVULSIONS
GENERALS – INFLAMMATION – Joints; of – deformans; arthritis
GENERALS – WEAKNESS
RECTUM – DIARRHEA
RECTUM – PAIN – stool – during – agg.
RECTUM – PAIN – stool – during – agg. – tenesmus
SLEEP – SLEEPINESS
SLEEP – SLEEPLESSNESS
STOMACH – ERUCTATIONS
URINE – CLOUDY

Information from DICTIONARY OF PRACTICAL MATERIA MEDICA, J. H. CLARKE
Clinical

Diarrhoea
Fever
Intestinal catarrh
Prostration
Sleeplessness
Spasms

Characteristics: This alkaloid has been proved and the symptoms are sufficiently distinctive, though I am not aware of any clinical experience with it. The symptoms point strongly to its use in that form of intestinal catarrh characterised by the appearance of shreddy membranes; and the symptom, “convulsive jerkings of right hand,” should prove a valuable indication, if not a keynote.

Relations: Compare: Ars., Caust., Colch.

ENCLYCLOPEDIA OF PURE MATERIA MEDICA, T F ALLEN
Authorities

Schroff’s provings, Oest. Zeit. f. Pract. Heilk., 1856, 22-24, Heinrich took 01 of a gramme, and after a week took 02 gramme;

The only case of poisoning known, bear. Rudolph-Stift, 227, 1867, a woman, aged twenty, took a solution of 45 milligrammes (Husemann’s Pflanzenstoffe, 498).

Eye: Pupils widely dilated

Face: Tearing pains in the face

Mouth: Increased secretion of saliva

Stomach

Eructation
Eructations, nausea, and great desire to vomit
Nausea and vomiting
Slight nausea, and an uncomfortable sensation, which distracted the attention of the prover from the lecture to which he was listening
On rising from bed, at night, nausea suddenly increased, and was followed by vomiting of undigested food, and afterwards of a bitter greenish fluid; the vomiting was repeated early in the morning
Vomiting of greenish substances, frequently repeated
Vomiting of blood for nine or ten days
Pains in epigastric region (after four hours)
Excessive sensitiveness of epigastric region

Abdomen

Distension and sensitiveness in the abdomen
Frequent rumbling in the bowels

Rectum and anus

Urging to stool, causing him to leave his bed, followed by copious pasty evacuation, with excessive tenesmus; this was repeated three times within a short period

Stool

Two stools on the second day, one on the third day, three on the fourth day, all accompanied by tenesmus, and consisting of a thin fluid with numerous flakes, looking like the cooked white or an egg, in pieces from two to four lines long
Stools thin, yellowish-green, and slimy, accompanied by pain (second day)
Liquid stools

Urinary organs: Urine turbid, depositing a copious white sediment

General symptoms

Very great exhaustion on the second day after taking Colchicin, increased to a feverish excitement, lasting for two days, so that he was obliged to keep his bed on the second day

Sleep and dreams

Slight somnolency and collapse
Awakened from sleep soon after midnight by uneasy dreams

Fever

The fever appeared as a chill about noon on the first day, followed by violent heat, lasting several hours, with increased thirst, very rapid pulse, confusion of the head, uneasiness, and sleeplessness

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Dr Saurav Arora, MD

Dr. Saurav Arora is an internationally acclaimed medical homeopath, consultant, and independent researcher having 17+ years of experience as a clinician, researcher, and a teacher.