Dr Archie Shrivastav BHMS
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND – Sepia is a one of the constitutional remedy which is used to treat many diseases.
OBJECTIVE – This article is my experience about sepia, to explore the remedial effects of sepia one has to use it efficiently. In this article I have elaborated Sepia in every aspect with the background of its medical use in different diseases and the important keynotes to be included for the references.
KEYWORDS – cuttle fish, housewife, complainer, dissatisfaction, proving, washer woman remedy, career, female complaints, withdrawn, constitutional remedy
Sepia is made from the fresh ink of the cuttlefish — an independent creature which swims alone rather than in a group and lives in the crevices of rocks in the cool depths of the sea. When in danger it sends out clouds of ink to cover its escape, and when securing its prey it ejects the ink for camouflage. Thus the brownish-black liquid serves both defensive and aggressive purposes.
The remedy is predominantly female. The classic picture is the woman seeking emancipation from her traditionally passive and too limited role as wife and mother in the home. Homoeopathic Sepia, however, comes in different guises. For a better understanding, it must be divided into three distinct faces:-
- The worn-out overworked housewife or emotionally withdrawn woman
- The contented career woman
- The dissatisfied complainer
The TIRED HOUSEWIFE with her sallow, bloated complexion and free perspiration, who can stand neither stuffy rooms nor cold air, who suffers from constant backache or headache, is constipated, and has an overall “dragged-down” feeling. So worn out is she with the cares of home and children that she only wants to lie down and rest; her very eyelids droop from weakness. In her run-down condition she feels stupid, dull, and forgetful; and when overwrought she feels she must hold tightly to something to keep from screaming. At times, driven to an extreme of irritability, she lashes out at her children and especially her husband. From this picture arises the image of the rebellious dissatisfied woman who wants to leave her husband and children (“aversion to members of family”: Kent) and “get away from it all.” Or she has simply become “indifferent to her loved ones” (Hering).
All manifestations of love — marital, parental, filial, and even close friendship — are a drain on her reserves of energy and an obstacle to her need for a certain amount of privacy and independence (“company aggravates, amelioration when alone”: Kent). The cuttlefish, after all, is a solitary animal. Sepia’s immediate family, being the greatest emotional drain, is naturally the greatest threat.
Sepia seeks to emancipate herself from the burden of love by moving into a world comparatively devoid of personal emotions, into a profession. This brings up the second face of the remedy, the woman who has an enjoyable career or is doing some interesting work concurrently with her housewifely duties.
Sepia can lie down feeling hopeless and depressed and wake up a short time later with the gloom temporarily dispelled. In her unsociability she may at times resemble Natrum muriaticum’s loner mentality; also, like Natrum muriaticum, she may be “worse in company yet dreads to be alone” (Kent). But her loneliness proceeds from a different source.
Long periods of immobility exacerbate their poor circulation and intrinsic stasis (Farrington’s term).Perhaps for the same reason, i.e., amelioration from stimulation, they are “cheered by thunder and lightning” (Kent-Sepia is the only remedy listed under this rubric).
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS-
- Pain extends from other parts into the back.
- Weakness in the lumbosacral region.
- Dysmenorrhoea with constipation and hemorrhoids.
- Sensation of lump or rolling over internally.
- Faints easily, especially while kneeling at the church.
- Indifference to those whom she loves best.
- Sight or smell of food <.
- Dyspnoea < sitting, after sleep but ameliorated by dancing.
- Expectoration – salty
- Constipation during pregnancy, not ameliorated by stool.
- Incontinence of urine during first sleep from which child is roused with difficulty.
- Feeling of goneness; not relieved by eating.
- Herpes behind ears on the nape of neck.
- Tobacco dyspepsia
- Worse after boiled milk.
- Menses too late and scanty.
- Ringworm like eruption every spring.
- Thick, foul urine; adherent, red, sandy sediment, or white, gritty. menses absent; at puberty; after weaning, etc. grasping, burning or sticking in uterus (os). (BOGER SYNOPTIC KEY)
Sepia is a great polychrest remedy and the shades of it are easily seen in today’s time.
Here I am depicting a SEPIA CYCLE which I have understood so far regarding sepia. The freedom phase, every girl enjoys a freedom phase in her life but not with sepia she wants to choose or pursue something but she is bounded by something every time. This leads to suppression, the suppression of emotions like love, hate, anger etc.
If the same situation occurs I her every phase of life like puberty, adulthood, after marriage then she has a huge roller coaster of emotions going on in her heart and head. Many times she had to do the things against her will and then one fine day she exploded.
The day when she exploded and expressed her emotions she became a bad tempered nagging woman and then goes into the drudge phase.
The phase in which she became quite practical and wants to liver her life on her own terms because she had already spoiled herself for the sake of others.
very well explained