Kreosotum
as William Boericke recorded it in Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 1927
This is one author on one remedy. The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full. Read Kreosotum in every book at once →
General
Beechwood Kreosote Kreosotum is a mixture of phenols obtained from this distillation. Pulsations all over the body, and profuse bleeding from small wounds. Very severe, old neuralgic affections; pains rather aggravated by rest. Excoriating, burning, and offensive discharges. Hæmorrhages, ulcerations, cancerous affections. Rapid decomposition of fluids and secretions, and burning pains. Overgrown, poorly developed children. Post-climacteric diseases. Tumefaction, puffiness, gangrene. Ailings of teething children. Mental.––Music causes weeping and palpitation. Vanishing of thought; stupid, forgetful, peevish, irritable. Child wants everything but throws it away when given.
Modalities
Worse, in open air, cold rest, when lying; after menstruation. Better, from warmth, motion, warm diet.
Head
Dull pain, as from a board pressing against forehead. Menstrual headache. Occipital pain (Gels; Zinc pic).
Face
Sick, suffering expression; hot, cheeks red.
Eyes
Salty lachrymation. Lids red and swollen.
Ears
Eruption around and pimples within. Difficult hearing and buzzing.
Nose
Offensive smell and discharge. Chronic catarrh of old people. Acrid rawness. Lupus (Ars).
Mouth
Lips red, bleeding. Very painful dentition; child will not sleep. Very rapid decay of teeth, with spongy, bleeding gums; teeth dark and crumbly (Staph; Ant c). Putrid odor and bitter taste.
Throat
Burning, choking sensation. Putrid odor.
Stomach
Nausea; vomiting of food several hours after eating; of sweetish water in the morning. Feeling of coldness, as of ice water in stomach. Soreness; better eating. Painful hard spot. Hæmatemesis. Bitter taste after a swallow of water.
Abdomen
Distended. Burning hæmorrhoids. Diarrhœa; very offensive; dark brown. Bloody, fetid stools. Cholera infantum in connection with painful dentition, green stools, nausea, dry skin, exhaustion, etc.
Urinary
Offensive. Violent itching of vulva and vagina, worse when urinating. Can urinate only when lying; cannot get out of bed quick enough during first sleep. Dreams of urinating. Enuresis in the first part of night. Must hurry when desire comes to urinate.
Female
Corrosive itching within vulva, burning and swelling of labia; violent itching between labia and thighs. During menses, difficult hearing; buzzing and roaring; eruption after. Burning and soreness in external and internal parts. Leucorrhœa, yellow, acrid; odor of green corn; worse between periods. Hæmorrhage after coition. Menses too early, prolonged. Vomiting of pregnancy, with ptyalism. Menstrual flow intermits (Puls); ceases on sitting or walking; reappears on lying down. Pain worse after menses. Lochia offensive; intermits.
Respiratory
Hoarse, with pain in larynx. Cough; worse evening, with efforts to vomit, with pain in chest. Raw burning in chest; pains and oppression. Cough after influenza (Eriodyction). Winter coughs of old people, with heavy pressure on sternum. Gangrene of lungs. After every cough, copious, purulent expectoration. Hæmoptysis; periodic attacks. Sternum feels pressed in.
Back
Dragging backache, extending to genitals and down thighs. Great debility.
Extremities
Pain in joints, hip and knee. Boring pain in hip-joints. Scapulæ sore.
Skin
Itching, worse towards evening. Burning in soles. Senile gangrene. Small wounds bleed freely (Crot; Lach; Phos). Pustules and herpes. Ecchymosis; dorsal surface of fingers and hands eczematous.
Sleep
Disturbed with tossing. Paralytic sensation in limbs on waking. Anxious dreams of pursuit, fire, erections, etc.
Relationships
Antidote: Nux. Inimical: Carbo. Complementary in malignant diseases: Ars; Phos; Sulph. Guaiacol (is the principal constituent of Kreosote, and similar in action. Used in pulmonary tuberculosis. Dose 1 to 5 m). Matico-Artanthe or Piper augustifolia, (Gonorrhœa, hæmorrhage from lungs; catarrhal conditions of genito-urinary organs and gastro-intestinal tract. Topically a hæmostatic. Difficult, dry, deep, winter cough. Use tincture). Compare also: Fuligo ligni; Carbol ac; Iod; Laches.
Dose
Third to thirtieth potency. The 200th in sensitive patients.
What the other books say about Kreosotum
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Kreosotum in Allen's Keynotes — The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours.
- Kreosotum in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
- Kreosotum in Boger — A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative.
Search every book at once, take rubrics from Kent and Bönninghausen, and practise on a patient who answers back — free account.
Create a free accountCite this page. William Boericke. Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 9th edition (preface dated San Francisco, June 1927). Kreosotum — General. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/boericke/kreosotum. Published 1927: public domain in the US (since 2023) and in India (author died 1929). Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.