Opium: A Complete Homeopathic Remedy for Coma, Shock & Nervous Ailments

Common Name: Poppy
Scientific Name: Papaver somniferum
Family: Papaveraceae
Source: Dried juice of the unripe seed capsule

Sphere of Action

Acts profoundly on the cerebrospinal system, producing symptoms of torpor, insensibility, congestion, and paralysis. It affects the nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory system.

Constitutional Indications

• Suited to old people, drunkards, overfed, sedentary individuals, or those with diminished vital reaction
• People with sluggish temperament, lazy, and careless

Mind

• Complete stupor and unconsciousness
• Dull, stupid, sluggish mind
• Delirium with visions of animals, frightful objects
• Fearlessness, no perception of reality
• Talks loudly, boasts, or makes jokes during serious illness
• Emotional shock or fright with no complaints or reaction

Head

• Heavy, congestive headaches
• Face red, hot, and bloated
• Sensation as if skull would burst
• Pupils contracted or sometimes dilated
• Vertigo with drowsiness

Sleep

• Profound sleep with sterterous (snoring) breathing
• Deep coma-like state
• Sleepy but cannot be roused
• Sleepy yet hears everything (oversensitive hearing during stupor)
• Sleeplessness due to hyperactive brain

Eyes

• Eyes half open, pupils contracted, vision impaired
• Fixed, glassy stare
• Heavy lids, hard to keep open

Face

• Dark red, swollen, hot face
• Expression stupid, unconscious
• Jaw hanging down, mouth open

Respiratory System

• Snoring, difficult, slow respiration
• Breathes like a child in deep sleep
• Breathing stops on falling asleep (like Lachesis)
• Cheyne-Stokes respiration in severe cases

Gastrointestinal

• Constipation: no desire or ability to pass stool
• Stool hard, black, round balls like sheep dung
• Abdomen bloated, no urging even with full rectum
• Involuntary stools in unconscious state

Urinary & Female

• Suppressed urine with unconsciousness
• Retention of urine in comatose states
• Ineffective labor pains; painlessness of normally painful conditions

Extremities

• Paralysis of limbs, esp. lower
• Trembling, jerking of muscles
• Twitching, convulsions, especially from fright or brain conditions

Mind–Body State

• Used in cases with lack of reaction, where symptoms are masked
• Used in brain injuries, shock, stroke, or coma

Modalities

Worse From	Better From
Fright, heat, alcohol, sleep, cold air	Cold things, sitting up, movement

Miasmatic Influence

• Predominantly sycotic and pseudo-psoric

Keynotes

• Stupor with open eyes and snoring respiration
• No complaints where they are expected
• Painlessness with normally painful conditions
• Constipation without desire or awareness of need
• Complaints from fright, followed by paralysis or coma

Relationship

Complementary	Similar Remedies	Antidotes
Belladonna	Lachesis, Hyoscyamus, Nux v.	Nux vomica, Coffea

Potency & Dosage

• Frequently used in 30C to 200C
• Acute states may require higher potencies
• Used cautiously where vitality is low

Clinical Tips

• Shock after fright, especially when the patient becomes stuporous
• Coma after stroke or head injury
• No reaction to well-indicated remedies
• Constipation without desire, especially in elderly or bedridden

One-Line Summary

"Opium is a remedy of insensibility, stupor, and painlessness in conditions where symptoms are suppressed or masked."