Homoeopathy Medicines from Halogens

In Greek terminology , the words ‘halos ‘ means sea salts, and genes means born. It is so originated due to their close resemblance and gradual transition of physical & chemical properties.

Halogens have 7 electrons in their outer orbit.

They require one electron to complete their outer orbit and become stable, so they constantly trying to get one electron & hence these halogen remedies are very active, restless, excited and anxious. Halogens are fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine.

Important remedies

• Chlorine
• Bromine
• Iodine
• Fluorine.

Spongia from animal kingdom , contain iodine, some amount of bromine & calcareous matter

Important Features of Halogens

1)Constitution  – Lean, thin, emaciated with a typical cachexic look.

2) Diathesis  – Scrofulous.

3) Miasm – anti syphilitic, anti tubercular,

4)Thermal reaction:

• Hot.
• Iodum- hot
• Bromium-bchilly
• Fluorine- ambithermal

5)Ailments from :

• Summer;
• Warmth.

6) Tendency  to affect glands. All of the halogens act upon the glandular system producing enlargement, induration and even abscess in glands. Thus we find them all useful in scrofulosis, especially Iodine,

• Lymphatic  glands  hypertrophied.
• Endocrine  glands affected e.g. Iodium – goitre.
• Bromium –  toxic goitre. Hypo or hyper functioning of glands.
• Sexual  glands :- hypo functioning and atrophy of  ovaries,testes etc.
• Primary  / secondary sterility. E.g.:  infantile  uterus  ; azoospermia etc.

7) Hollow organs affected: like

• Respiratory tract,
• Intestines,
• Uterus,
• Heart etc.

8) Tendency to  produce spasms.

Spasmodic affections of respiratory tract. They all produce spasm of the glottis and this is most marked, has proved most characteristic in Chlorine, although they all have it.

9)Marked affinity for all mucous membranes. producing violent inflammation, rawness and excoriation

10)  Affinity for bones & hair.      

• bones –  deformities, tumors, etc.
• hair – hairfall etc.

11)Highly acrid discharges :

Discharges burn the parts on which they flow producing

•  inflammation , 
•  then congestion ,
•  then ulceration ,
•  then malignancy.

12)Slow onset of disease.

13)Sluggish torpidity.- Therefore halogens useful  in chronic diseases.

 14)Highly irritant. Destroy fibrin present in blood, leading to haemorrhages.

 15)Tendency to pseudo membrane formation. All excepting Chlorine, tend to produce croupous membranes; Chlorine tends more to diphtheritic membrane than pure croupous

 16)Oedematous conditions. Esp. Cardiac dropsy.

 17)Modalities

• < night,
• < heat. 

Mental features

1) Anxiety belongs to all of the halogens.
It hardly originates in the mind, probably coming from some defect in the body itself. It is a common symptom in heart and lung affections, and it is probably thence that the symptom springs. This anxiety is expressed in this way: The patients expect to see objects jump around them or they think that somebody is about them, and they turn around to see if such is the case. This is an effect of Bromine,

2) Restless, excitable people–There is a decided erethism, during which the patient is very excitable, and restless, moving about from place to place, now sitting here, now sitting there, he fears that every little occurrence will end seriously. they continually want to be doing something

3)active– they are active , agile people

4) Impusive—they wanted to do things quickly, impulse to do violent & strange things

5) Destructive—tendency to become destructive, tendency to ruin things which they don’t like

6) Violent– they take harsh & violent measures

7) Forgetful
A third characteristic symptom is their forgetfulness, as described by Vithoulkas (1991 b, page 50). They are so busy and they have so much on their mind that they can’t keep up with it. They are inclined to write everything down on little notes, but even then they keep forgetting certain things.

8) Obsession
Their fear of forgetting things might become an obsession. This may lead to compulsive behaviour, all because they want to be able to keep everything under control. This results in fixed ideas: ‘I have to do this, and I must do that’. 

INDIVIDUAL DRUGS

Iodium

1. Iodine. The Element.
2. Persons of a scrofulous diathesis, with dark or black hair and eyes; a low cachectic condition,  with profound debility and great emaciation (Abrot).
3. Great weakness and loss of breath on going upstairs (Calc.); during the menses (Alum., Carbo an., Coc.).
4. Ravenous hunger; eats freely and well, yet loses flesh all the time (Abrot., Nat. m., Sanic., Tub.).
5. Empty eructations from morning to night, as if every particle of food was turned into air (Kali c.).
6. Itching: low down in the lungs, behind the sternum, causing cough; extends through bronchi to nasal cavity (Coc. c., Con., Phos.).
7. Hypertrophy and induration of glandular tissue_thyroid, mammae, ovaries, testes, uterus, prostate or other glands_breasts may dwindle and become flabby.
8. Palpitation, worse from least exertion (compare Dig.from least mental exertion, Cal. ars.).
9. Sensation as if the heart was squeezed together; as if grasped with an iron hand (Cac., Sulph.).
10. Leucorrhoea: arid, corrosive, staining and corroding the linen; most abundant at times of menses.
11. Cancerous degeneration of the cervix; cutting pains in abdomen and haemorrhage at every stool.
12. Constipation, with ineffectual urging >> by drinking cold milk.
13. Croup: membranous, hoarse, dry cough, worse in warm, wet weather; with wheezing and sawing respiration (Spong.).
14. Child grasps the larynx (Cepa); face pale and cold, especially in fleshy children.
15. Relations. Complementary: to, Lycopodium.
16. Compare: Acet. ac., Brom., Con., Kali bi., Spong. in membranous croup and croupy affections; especially in overgrown boys with scrofulous diathesis.
17. Follows well: after, Hep., Mer.; is followed by Kali bi. in croup. Acts best in goitre when given after full moon, or when the moon is waning. _ Lippe.
18. Should not be given during lying-in period, except in high potencies. Hering.
19. Aggravation. _ Warmth; wrapping up the head (reverse of, Hep., Psor.).

Bromium

Bromine.- The Element.

1. It acts best, but not exclusively, on persons with light-blue eyes, flaxen hair, light eyebrows, fair, delicate skin; blonde, red-cheeked, scrofulous girls.
2. Sensation of cobweb on the face (Bar., Bor., Graph.).
3. Fan-like motion of alae nasi (Ant. t., Lyc.).
4. Sailors suffer from asthma “on shore.”
5. Stony, hard, scrofulous or tuberculous swelling of glands, especially on lower jaw and throat (thyroid, submaxillary, parotid, testes).
6. Diphtheria : where the membrane forms in pharynx; beginning in bronchi, trachea or larynx, and extending upwards; chest pains running upwards.
7. Membranous and diphtheritic croup; much rattling of mucus during cough,  but no choking (as in Hepar); sounds; loose, but no expectoration (Ant. t.).
8. Croupy symptoms with hoarseness during whooping-cough; gasping for breath.
9. Dyspnoea : cannot inspire deep enough; as if breathing through a sponge or the air passages were full of smoke or vapor of sulphur; rattling; sawing; voice inaudible; danger of suffocation from mucus in larynx (in bronchi, Ant. t.).
10. Hypertrophy of heart from gymnastics in growing boys (from calisthenics in young girls, Caust.).
11. Physometra; loud emission of flatus from the vagina (Lyc.); membranous dysmenorrhoea (Lac. c.).
12. Cold sensation in larynx on inspiration (Rhus, Sulph.); >> after shaving (< after shaving, Carbo an.).
13. Relations. Compare : in croup and croupy affection, Chlor., Hep., Iod., Spong.
14. Hard goitre cured after Iod. failed.
15. Brom. has cured in croup after failure of Iod., Phos., Hep., Spong.; especially in relapses after Iod.
16.  “The chief distinction between Brom. and Iod. is, the former cures the blue-eyed and the latter the black-eyed patients.”-HERING.

Chlorum (chlorine gas in water)

• The marked effect on the respiratory organs, producing spasm of the glottis, is the chief symptom of the drug.
• Asthma to relieve the spasm of glottis.
• Useful externally and internally in gangrene.
• Mind
• Marked loss of memory, especially for names.
• Respiratory – Coryza with sudden gushes of sharp, corroding fluid, making nose sore inside and about the alae.
• Constriction, with suffocation. Spasm of the glottis.
• Irritation of epiglottis, larynx, and bronchi.
• Loss of voice from damp air.
• Sudden dyspnoea from spasm of the vocal cords, with staring protruding eyes, blue face, cold sweat, pulse small.
• Inspiration free, with obstructed expiration. [Mephit.] Livid face.

FLUOR PURUM

1. Fluorine is rather special in that it isn’t easy to potentise.  If we were to dissolve it in water it would immediately react with the water to form Fluoric acid.  Other solvents would give similar problems, so it won’t be easy to find a suitable medium to potentise
2. Fluorine in its pure elemental form. It is the most reactive of all the non-metallic elements and it affects every substance it comes in contact with, even metals like Platina.
3. There are only a few noble gases that are not affected by its aggressive action.

Picture of Fluorine

• Essence: letting go of personality and values.
• They have a tendency to let go of all the values they have had to take on board during their life so far.  They feel that they can no longer live within this restrictive set of rules and norms and they would rather get rid of them.