# Guaiacum (HMT)

## Remedy Classification
- **Type:** Remedy
- **Miasm:** Tubercular Miasm
- **Temperament:** Neutral
- **Aggravation Time:** Neutral/Anytime

## Keynote Indications
Guaiacum is a profoundly effective and very powerful remedy.
However, homoeopathic doctors rarely use it.  Only a few experienced
doctors have used it and even then once in a while, otherwise, the drug
has remained unknown.  Usually, it is used for the treatment of
rheumatic pain and gout.  If the symptoms of hereditary tuberculosis
are found in a patient, Guaiacum must be kept in mind for the
treatment of such a patient.  In a patient of Guaiacum, there is a
tendency towards diarrhoea.  Furthermore the white ropy structures
called tendons, which attach the muscles to the bones, become
contracted and then shri nk, resulting in the contracture of the joints,
meaning that they cannot be fully stretched, and hur t on such an
attempt.  There is a feeling of pa in and tiredness over the muscles of
both the shoulders.  Guaiacum is useful in treating this condition.

The symptoms of Guaiacum aggravate with heat while they
ameliorate in cold.  From this point of view, it is similar to Ledum,
Pulsatilla, Lac Caninum and Iodum.  However, there are clear-cut
symptoms of each of these remedies, by which they can be
distinguished; a proper diagnosis can be arrived at and the optimal
treatment may be given.

Due to the multiple joint pains, the patients of Guaiacum stoop
forward while walking.   T h e i r  knee joints become weak , and the
hands and feet become stiff.  The person may become completely
disabled physically.  Besides Gu aiacum, these symptoms can be
treated with Colchicum.  The significant feature of Colchicum is that
the pain starts at the big toe.  Th e salient sign of Guaiacum is that the
affected area is hypersensitive to any kind of touch.  The symptoms
become worse with the application of  heat.  The swelling of the joints
may lead to the formation of ulcers and abscesses.  Guaiacum is
deeply related to the bones as well.  The bones become soft , bend
and become porous like a sponge (ost eoporosis).  This condition often
reminds one of Calcarea Carb.  Ho wever, if there is the tendency
towards joint pains, Guaiacum will be  found more effective.  Another
sign of Guaiacum is the feeling of extreme tiredness.  On the slightest
movement, the patient feels weak.  The weakness then involves the
nerves leading to furt her physical weakness.  The body then starts
wasting.

Guaiacum is very useful in the treatment of tuberculosis in its early
stages.  If the tuberculosis bacteria are present in the blood and the
patient suffers from rheumatism along with the tendency to
development of boils, and there are generalised body aches, then
Guaiacum will be found very effective.

Guaiacum is also an antisporic remedy i.e. it is very effective against
skin diseases related to psoriasis and lepr osy.  Sulphur and Psorinum
are also top class antisporic medicines.  The nature of Sulphur is hot
whereas that of Psorinum is col d.  However, Sulphur and Psorinum
alone cannot cure all types of psoria tic diseases.  When such diseases
have afflicted the mucous membra nes also, several other medicines
need to be used.  If the developing condition is of eczema, the
appropriate analogous remedy will need  to be given according to the
type of the eczema.  If a condition develops out of psoriasis and the
appropriate remedy administered, but the recovery stops after a little
beneficial effect, then it will beco me necessary to use other antisporic
drugs in high potencies.  If the a ssociated symptoms can be directly
linked to a particular remedy, then certainly that alone will be the
most effective.  Sometimes the pictur e is not clear.  In  this condition,
they will serve as a general cure for psora facilitating the beneficial
effect of similar homoeopathic remedies.

There is many a kind of skin conditi ons, which require to be treated
with their constitutional remedy.  If the drugs selected after careful
thinking, do not benefit the patient, then it becomes necessary to use
antisporic drugs.  They will reduce the aggressiveness of the sickness
so that it becomes responsive to the overall treatment.  Besides
Sulphur and Psorinum, these medicines include Merc Sol,
Tuberculinum and Syphilinum.  Similarly, Guaiacum is also
antisporic.

Guaiacum is also related to facial neuralgia.  In Guaiacum, there is a
pinching type of pain on one side of  the face.  It is very annoying.
Spigelia is more effective in the treatment of facial neuralgia on the
left side while Silicea and Mag Phos are more useful on the right side.

In Guaiacum, the eyes become swollen, the pupils are dilated and the
eyelids are contracted. Small boils appear around the eyes.  Once in a
while, the ear also hurts.  This, howev er, is not due to any infection or
epidemic disease.  Apparently, there is no swelling or external
redness.  When the pain in the ears  is about to disappear, the patient
feels pinpricks over the head.  If a patient is suffering from severe
cold along with a runny nose and feels pain over the nasal bones, he
can get relief with Guaiacum.  With this kind of cold, the patient feels
pain in the jawbones.  Eupatorium Perfol is famous for the treatment
of bone pains.  However, its effectiveness is limited. It has commonly
been found useful in the treatment of influenza like fever.  There is a
small insect called “kutri”, found in  the dry areas.  Its bite produces
severe burning sensation and inflam mation.  It causes Dengue fever,
associated with severe bone pains.  Eupatorium Perfol is very useful
for the treatment of this fever.  The aches and pains associated with
Guaiacum are precisely timed.  The bone  pain, especially the pain in
the roots of the teeth, of ten gets worse at night.   Pains starting at six
o’clock in the evening and continuing up to four o’clock in the
morning, should be treated with Guaiacum.  In the presence of its
other symptoms, Guaiacum will be found effective and fast.  Along
with the joint pains and gout, there is a tendency of contracting sore
throat.  With the sore throat the entire body starts hurting.  Sometimes,
toothache can also cause severe bod y aches.  In all opathy, the doctors
usually advise the extraction of the tooth or the surgical removal of the
tonsils, but the aches and pains may still persist.  Timely treatment
with Guaiacum will obviate the need for such surgery.

In Guaiacum, the patient has a constant urge to pass urine , but
cannot ease himself.  The repeated fr uitless effort makes him restless.
There is a kind of piercing sensation at the end of urination.

Women suffering from rheumatism develop permanent
inflammation inside the uterus .  They may develop complete
cessation of the periods or other conditions due to uterine dysfunction.
There is a feeling of hissing over the mammary glands.  The overlying
skin shrinks and small pimples develop over it.

Rapid heartbeat is also a symptom of Guaiacum.  Furthermore, a dry
cough and fever develop.  Sometimes, rheumatic types of pains
develop in the muscles of the chest wall , which become worse in
winter.  There is a feeling of pain  over the heart.  If the rheumatic
fever and the associated joint pain s are suppressed with some strong
medication, the toxic material of the in fection will afflict the valves of
the heart (rheumatic carditis).  The patient feels discomfort over the
heart, like joint pain.  When the heart gets afflicted secondary to the
suppression of flu, this will be best tr eated with Spigelia.  Spigelia is
also of use to treat the aftereffect s of the forcefully suppressed gout.
However, Guaiacum is more useful for treating the gout as well as its
deleterious effect on the heart.  Th ese pains may be on the back of the
neck and when associated with tightness and stiffness of the neck;
Guaiacum should be remembered.  Guaiacum is also useful in the
treatment of the pain over the upper arms, thighs, as well as the finger
joints.

In Guaiacum, the patient may also suffer from kidney problems .
Usually, the patients sweat a lot, which in fact is beneficial to them.
As long as the patient perspires, the symptoms of kidney dysfunction
do not appear.  As soon as the patient stops perspiring, kidney
symptoms will ensue.  If such a pa tient develops renal pain in the
winter, he will benefit from sweati ng induced by heat treatment.  It
simply means that the sweat, as we ll as the kidneys, helps eliminate
similar kinds of toxic materials from the body.  Guaiacum helps in
elimination of these toxic materials and the salts from the body to
keep their balance in the blood.

The symptoms of Guaiacum aggravate with movement, heat, pressure
and on touch.  The symptoms ameliorate on the application of external
pressure.

Antidotes:  Nux Vomica and Sepia
Potency: 30 or sometimes higher potency.

## Symptoms by System