Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Crotalus horridus (Crot‑h.)

Crotalus horridus (Crot‑h.) appears in 368 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 18 are single-remedy rubrics in which only this remedy is listed, and 22 are small rubrics with no more than two other remedies. The emphasis lies on Delusions, Anxiety, Speech, Ecstasy and Delirium, followed by Fear and Mistakes. The picture is that of a person swinging between dissolution and exuberance in a state of severe illness.

Splitting and Dissolution

The delusions are dark. They concern ugly, repulsive animals that surround, death as a huge black skeleton, and the feeling of being only half alive: the single-remedy rubrics describe being alive on one side of the body while buried on the other. Alongside stand the feeling of rapid dissolution and the delusion that the brain is intoxicated by decomposed blood. The fear is of serious thoughts, and the choice of medicines also frightens.

Speech in Decay

Speech and Delirium show the decay. Speech is muttering, whining, complaining and plaintive; in addition, as single-remedy rubrics, there are muttering with the desire to escape from bed, and confused speech with cold skin and rapid pulse. The delirium shows wide-open eyes, moaning, and talkativeness with the urge to flee from bed. Mistakes in calculating and writing, the memory, and the aversion to family members at the onset of dementia belong to the same breakdown of function.

Ecstasy in Alternation

Opposed to this is an elevated mood that breaks out on waking in the morning: "Ecstasy – exalted" and "Ecstasy – waking, on – morning". Liveliness and dullness alternate, two single-remedy rubrics, and a quiet indifference is added. Coma with liver complaints and with sepsis, mania with liver disease, and anxiety with intestinal hemorrhage or with a pale face and cold sweat can be read as pointing to severe illness that seizes the mind.

The Fear rubrics form another large block, and the Memory is broadly affected. Ailments from mental influences and unconsciousness stand behind them as consequences; Children are represented with a larger group of rubrics.

Summary

The remedy shows a mind at the brink of dissolution: half dead and half alive, caught up in delusions of animals and death, muttering and complaining in delirium. Ecstasy in the morning and dullness, alternating with each other, bear witness to the instability of this state.

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