Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Cactus grandiflorus (Cact.)

Cactus grandiflorus (Cact.) appears in the repertory in 217 rubrics. Of these, 10 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 17 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphasis lies on Fear with 23 rubrics, Delusions, Anxiety, Delirium and Sadness. Together they form the picture of a person whose mind is bound to the heart, who feels shut in and close to death, and who at night seeks refuge in delirium or mania.

Heart and fear of death

The heart determines the mood. Two single-remedy rubrics record the delusion of being about to die, namely with heart complaints and, in the second version, with heart complaints with rheumatism. A single-remedy rubric gives screaming with cardiac rheumatism. Small rubrics link anxiety with constriction of the heart region, despair with heart disease and, curiously, also cheerfulness with heart disease. Fear of death also arises from pains in the uterus.

Being imprisoned

A group of delusions of its own describes confinement: "Delusions – body – enveloped" as a single-remedy rubric, alongside the small rubrics of being caught in wires and in a wire cage. The constriction that characterizes the heart in the body is rendered in the image of being bound.

Night, delirium and mania

At night the picture sharpens. Single-remedy rubrics name delirium on waking at night, incoherent speech on waking, mania during heat and mania from burning heat. A small rubric lists mania toward midnight, two others improvement of delirium by sleep. Delirium is represented with eleven rubrics.

Oddities

Several rubrics show peculiar notions: the impulse to do odd things, the urge for the peculiar, the desire to do something witty, and the inclination to pretend to take medicine but throw it away, with the desire to swallow large amounts. Slowness appears as "being behind": always behind, always too late. A single-remedy rubric records that consolation aggravates uterine pains.

Summary

Cact. appears as the picture of a person whose heart complaints produce fear of death and feelings of constriction, while night and heat favor delirium and mania. The single-remedy rubrics emphasize heart, delirium and being imprisoned, the small rubrics oddities and delay. With 27 specific rubrics the data are slim but coherent.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.