{"id":18149,"remedy_name":"Opium (HMT)","remedy_type":"Remedy","alternative_names":["Dried Latex of the Poppy"],"miasm":"Tubercular Miasm","temperament":"Neutral","aggravation_time":"Neutral\/Anytime","keynote_indications":"The Poppy plant is abundantly grow n in Eastern countries like\nTurkey, Iran, Afghanistan and the Indo-Pak sub-continent.  Its flowers\ncan be of various colours.  Its peta ls are very soft and tender.  They\neasily fall and disperse with the wi nd and even light rain.  The juice\nsqueezed out of the capsule containing the seeds contains two\nalkaloids and many other chemical s ubstances.  Morphine is prepared\nfrom the shavings of the plant.  In allopathy, Morphine, the most\nimportant component of Opium, is  used as a hypnotic and as an\nanalgesic for the quick control of severe pain.  According to Dr.\nHahnemann, it is more difficult to understand the effects of Opium in\ncomparison to other remedies, becau se of its contrasting mode of\naction.  A change in the amount  of this drug produces opposing\neffects.  For example, a small dose of Opium allays nausea and\nvomiting, while a larger amount i nduces nausea and vomiting.  An\nOpium patient is insensitive, but on the contrary can be extremely\nsensitive too.  In allopathy also, the effects of Opium have been\ndivided into the primary and secondary type.\n\nIt is said that the initial action of  Opium is to ameliorate the pain\nsensation, but after some time,  the same patient becomes\nhypersensitive to pain and in fact experiences more pain than before.\n\nOpium exhibits some of the symptoms of Arnica also i.e. a dry nature,\nthe thickening of the blood (hyper-co agulable), and the tendency to\nclot. The Homoeopathic form of Opium, like Arnica, works as a blood\nthinner and helps in the dissolution of a clot already formed (anti-\ncoagulant and thrombolytic).  In particular, it is a must in the\ntreatment of clotting of blood inside the brain  (cerebral thrombosis).\nIn case of sudden rupture of the arteries in the brain  (cerebral\nhaemorrhage) causing unconsciousness, prompt administration of\nArnica and Opium given together  in very high potency, works\nwonderfully well.  In this situation, Arnica alone is not of much use.\nArnica and Opium given together give a new lease of life to the blood.\nThe patient starts to gain alertness, the body starts warming up and the\ncoagulability of the blood becomes normalized.\n\nAs already mentioned, Opium is a strong hypnotic.  The patient of\nOpium remains either asleep or dr owsy.  On the other hand, he may\nsometimes be unable to sleep altoge ther.  In Coffea also the patient\nloses sleep and becomes hypersensitive. When unable to sleep, the\nOpium patient becomes hypersensitive,  restless and conf used.  If the\npatient loses sleep due to Opium, th en Coffea will induce sleep. If the\npatient loses sleep after drinking coffee, then Nux Vomica as well as\nOpium will help the patient go to sleep.  People suffering from severe\nconstipation with the dried up intestines  and who have no feeling for\nopening the bowels, can be treated  with Opium.  Sometimes, the\nOpium patients can suffer from dys entery associated with severe\ngripes.  The stools are very soft.\n\nA typical patient of Opium is a complete coward.  He is scared of the\ndark.  His thoughts are fearful. He lacks comprehension so much so\nthat he cannot even understand his own disease.  He remains drowsy\nor semi-conscious.  On beings startled, he feels dizzy.\n\nOpium resembles Sulphur also.  Sulphur stimulates the natural\npercepivity of the patient.  Sometim es, even the true homoeopathic\nremedies fail to work as expected ; a dose or two of Sulphur makes\nthem effective once again.  Opium also, reactivates the suppressed and\ninactive body defences.  Moreover, a typical Sulphur patient also\nhappens to be extremely lazy and a philosopher.\n\nIn Opium, the muscles at the upper end of the throat become weak.\nThey cannot direct the food to the gullet, which may then enter the\nnose or the windpipe and cause severe choking .  The person can\neven die.  Opium plays a significant role in averting this tendency.\n\nThe Opium addict can be extremely insensitive and unresponsive to\nhis own sickness.  His mind remain s preoccupied with all kinds of\nfears.  He has to be subjected to treatment under duress.\n\nSimilarly, Opium produces dryness in  the body.  However, during a\nfever, the patient may sweat profusely, yet the fever does not subside.\nThis is peculiar for Opium.  There is frequent hot sweating as during\nthe summer rains.  It does not lo wer the body temperature.  Rather, it\nmakes the patient feel hotter.\n\nAn Opium addict loves to eat.  He is ever hungry  but continues to feel\nweak.  In spite of overeating, he is thin and lean.  The patient vomits\nfrequently after injection of morphine.  With homoeopathic Opium\ntreatment, the patient feels better.  Opium can also be a good remedy\nfor vomiting during the pregnancy  untreatable otherwise.  In\nOpium, the patient continues to feel hungry even when nauseated.\nHowever, soon after taking the food he throws up.  Due to a slow-\ndown of the digestive system , the food stagnates in the stomach,\ncausing nausea and vomiting .  Later on, the appeti te is completely\nlost.  The patient cannot eat any more and becomes very weak.  In this\nparticular situation, Chamomilla ma y be found as effective as Opium\nin controlling the vomiting.  Seasickness can be effectively treated\nwith Chamomilla or Opium used alone or in combination.\n\nIn Opium, the patient feels cram ps in his head, hands and feet .  The\nhands are shaky and numb .  Tonic convulsions \/ spasms of the\nextremities are not uncommon.  The limbs may also shake.  The pupils\nof the eyes become dilated and show no reaction to light.\n\nIn an Opium patient, the headache begins at the nape of the neck ,\nwhich then spreads downwards to both sides of the neck.  The entire\nhead feels numb and heavy.  The pa tient becomes intolerant to the\nslightest movement like the blinking of the eye.  Therefore, he\nremains lying down completely still with his eyes closed.\n\nThe sudden spasm of muscles , wrenching of the hands and feet and\nconvulsions of all types may be treated with Opium if other\nsymptoms of Opium are also present.\n\nOpium plays a very important role in treating meningitis, which\nusually affects children severly. A ti mely use of Opium can save the\nchild from serious sickness.  In this  condition, it is difficult to make\nthe correct diagnosis based on the apparent symptoms alone.  A good\nhomoeopath should be well conve rsant with these remedies\nbeforehand for their effective use.\n\nIf, out of fear  a patient starts suffering from spasm  of the muscles ,\nwrenching of the hands and feet or starts having hysteria or epilepsy-\nlike fits, then Opium should be given in high potency.\n\nThe severe form of epilepsy arisin g out of fear and tending to be\npermanent can sometimes be cured with a single dose of Opium in\nvery high potency.  It must be remembered that Opium will be\neffective in the treatment of epilepsy arising only out of fear .  The\nepileptic fits associated with Opiu m usually occur during sleep.  They\nbegin with a scream.  The patient has nightmares about black objects,\ndevil, fire or massacre.  A strange ty pe of fear sets in the mind of the\npatient.  Sometimes, he feels as if someone is taking him away.  If\nbesides fear, the mind becomes affected due  to sudden joyful news\nleaving bad aftereffects, then the patient can be treated with Coffea\nbesides Opium.\n\nAn Opium patient is given to gossi ping and telling lies without any\nreason.  Unfortunately, the patient does not realise this himself but\ncontinues in this bad habit.\n\nLead poisoning causes gripe and colic in the abdomen.  A single dose\nof Opium can immediately relieve the colic.  However Opium is not\nof much use in the treatment of ch ronic lead poisoning.  It works only\nin the acute form of lead poisoning.\n\nAn Opium patient is always dozin g.  He has no special wish or\ndemand.  His pulse becomes slow.  Generally, he is severely\nconstipated.  Sometimes, out of fear , he may develop diarrhoea\npassing dark offensive stools.  The bladder becomes weak.  The\npatient may have retention of urin e or passes only scanty amounts.\nThe hearing of the patient becomes unusually sharp.  He can perceive\nnoises from a great distance.  The patient snores a lot and may even\nfeel choked.  The ailments become worse during sleep.  His symptoms\nsubside with cold drinks and on walking about.\n\nIn women, periods may stop out of fear.  The labour pains may also\nstop during childbirth.  The woman becomes unconscious and has\nconvulsions.  She may suddenly b ecome unconscious or drowsy.\nSometimes, she may even abort due to fear.  Breathing becomes\ndifficult.  There is a sort of burning sensation inside the chest.  During\na severe bout of coughing, the face may become cyanosed\ninterspersed with red spots.\n\nIn Opium, the patient is insensitive to pain .  The nerve endings\nbecome functionally dead and unabl e to convey the true message of\npain sensation.  Thus, the wounds neither heal properly nor hurt.\nHomoeopathic Opium will rekindle the inner body response activating\nthe natural defence system of the body.\n\nAntidotes: Ipecac, Nux Vomica\nPotency: 30 to CM","modalities":"","symptoms_by_system":[],"schema_version":"1.0","api_provider":"Allahshafi"}