Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Coffea cruda (Coff.)

Coffea cruda (Coff.) appears in 977 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 54 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 84 are small rubrics with no more than two other remedies. The main emphasis lies on children, childbirth, excitement, oversensitiveness, anguish, and weeping. The overall picture is that of a person whose nerves return every stimulus magnified: he becomes excited where others rejoice, and he loses sleep to the abundance of his own thoughts.

Overstimulation from Joy

The core lies in a reversal. What is pleasant acts here as what is threatening does elsewhere. Listed are ailments from sudden joy, anguish from excessive joy, and fear of pleasant surprises. Two single-remedy rubrics go even further: "Joyful news – agg." and "Catalepsy – joy, pleasure agg.". The joy is not felt more weakly; it overwhelms. Laughing, too, aggravates, excessive laughing causes convulsions, and cheerfulness alternates with howling and moaning, fear with elation. This can be read as a receptivity that knows no damping: whatever comes in strikes unmitigated.

Mental Activity and Sleeplessness

Corresponding to this is an overawake mind. The Repertory lists perception and comprehension of rare quickness, rapid grasp of social structures with accurate judgment, enthusiastic and excited speech, and a rush of thoughts while reading. The mind runs until midnight, and the consequence is stated in a single-remedy rubric: "Activity – mental – cannot sleep because of". In fever the person thinks faster than ever; conscientiousness is increased, and a single-remedy rubric names worries in the silence. A feverishness of mood also belongs to this activity: in haste and hurry, with vehement manner, walking about the room, wild, the tension discharges physically.

Sensitivity

The senses are open to the point of torment. Noise intensifies pain, as a single-remedy rubric records: "Sensitive, oversensitive – noise, to – pain agg. from noise"; strong-smelling odors, touch in sleep, and being carried with a sideways motion are not tolerated. The person reacts similarly to pain: toothache brings frenzy, teething brings anxiety, and the moaning and weeping often attach to the teeth. The sensitivity reaches into the soul. Weeping arises from the slightest neglect: "Weeping – neglect, from the slightest". Also listed are inconsolability, complaining about trifles, and an alternation of weeping and moaning, pointing to a person who cannot switch off his agitation.

Childbirth and Puerperium

Childbirth forms a group of its own with eight specific rubrics. Mental symptoms during childbirth appear as excitement, lamenting, moaning, despair, and weeping, with sleeplessness from extremely tormenting pain and with fear of death. After childbirth come delirium in fever, as well as sparkling eyes and the fear of going insane. Screaming with threatened abortion and oversensitiveness with profuse lochia complete the picture. The body at its most extreme strain is evidently answered by the soul with the same overstimulation.

Children

With 84 rubrics, the group of children is the largest. Newborns scream from overstimulation, infants start easily, children grasp quickly and are excitable in weakness, and anxious and fearful during teething. Pinching and nipping out of joy is also found, a childlike counterpart of overstimulation from joy. One single-remedy rubric belongs to the family picture: "Parents – mother – attachment to mother, close"; next to it stands dependence on the mother.

Summary

In the Repertory, Coff. describes a person whose perception is quicker and reaches further than his nervous system can bear. From the openness to impressions follows the inability to bear joy, to tolerate noise, and to switch off at night. That the rubrics stand so densely at childbirth and in children suggests that the state shows most clearly where a body is in upheaval and has not yet formed a protective layer.

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