Cocculus is a noncompetitive antagonist at GABA-A receptors and thus a convulsant. Picrotoxin blocks the GAMMA-AMINOBUTYRIC ACID-activated chloride ionophore. Although it is most often used as a research tool, it has been used as a CNS stimulant and an antidote in poisoning by CNS depressants, especially the barbiturates.
COCCULUS is a poisonous berry, the dried fruit of Anamirta Cocculus L. Contains several substances including about one percent picrotoxin. Pure picrotoxin occurs as shiny leaflets with an intensely bitter taste or as a microcrystalline powder. Very poisonous!. Used in medicine as a central nervous system stimulant and antidote for barbiturate poisoning. Not currently regarded as a useful therapeutic agent.
Materia Medica of Cocculus
- Mind – Irritable; holds everything in contempt. Full of desires, for what they know not.
- Head – Bones of the skull feel crushed or bruised. Pain extends to teeth and root of the tongue.
- Eyes – Inflamed, red. Pain through eyeballs. Profuse lachrymation. Cornea dim. Eyes tire from near vision. State of vision constantly changing. Spasm of accommodation from the irritable weakness of the ciliary muscle. Nausea from looking on moving objects.
- Face – Blue rings around eyes. Periodical orbital neuralgia, with lachrymation, photophobia, and smarting eyelids.
- Nose – Coryza, with stoppage of nose and nausea. Epistaxis.
- Stomach – Tongue usually clean. Mouth, moist; much saliva. Constant nausea and vomiting, with pale, twitching of face. Vomits food, bile, blood, mucus. Stomach feels relaxed as if hanging down. Hiccough.
- Abdomen – Amebic dysentery with tenesmus; while straining pain so great that it nauseates; little thirst. Cutting, clutching; worse, around the navel. Body rigid; stretched out stiff.
- Stools – Pitch-like green as grass, like frothy molasses, with griping at the navel. Dysenteric, slimy.
- Female – Uterine hæmorrhage, profuse, bright, gushing, with nausea. Vomiting during pregnancy. Pain from navel to the uterus. Menses too early and too profuse.
- Respiratory – Dyspnœa; constant constriction in chest. Asthma. Yearly attacks of difficult shortness of breathing. Continued sneezing; coryza; a wheezing cough. A cough incessant and violent, with every breath. Chest seems full of phlegm but does not yield to coughing. Bubbling rales. A suffocative cough; the child becomes stiff, and blue in the face. Whooping-cough, with a nosebleed, and from the mouth. Bleeding from lungs, with nausea; feeling of constriction; rattling cough. Croup. Hæmoptysis from slightest exertion (Millef). Hoarseness, especially at end of a cold. Complete aphonia.
- Fever – Intermittent fever, irregular cases, after Quinine. Slightest chill with much heat, nausea, vomiting, and dyspnœa. Relapses from improper diet.
- Sleep – With eyes half open. Shocks in all limbs on going to sleep (Ign).
- Extremities – Body stretched stiff, followed by spasmodic jerking of arms towards each other.
- Skin – Pale, lax. Blue around eyes. Military rash.
Uses/ Indications of Cocculus
- Used internally for relieving respiratory distress. Also for use as an antidote in poisoning by CNS depressants, especially barbiturates.
- Formerly employed in the treatment of poisoning by central nervous system depressants, picrotoxin is not a selective respiratory stimulant and is not regarded as a useful therapeutic agent.
Motion Sickness
- From looking at moving objects.
- From riding in cars or boats.
Nausea
- From motion or looking at moving objects.
- With dizziness.
- On rising – has to lie down.
- Worsened by the smell of food.
Vertigo / Dizziness
- From looking at moving objects
- After the loss of sleep.
- Things spin in all directions.
- Drunken feeling.
Confusion and Fogginess
- Slowing of reactions.
- Slow to answer questions.
- The weakness of memory for what has just been thought.
Dysmenorrhoea / Painful Periods
- With weakness, dizziness, and cramps.
- Bleeding profuse, early, and dark.
Sleep Disturbances
- Sleeplessness from mental or physical exhaustion.
- Sleeplessness from cares and worry about others.
Others
- Cerebrospinal meningitis.
- Chorea
- Convulsions
- Fever
- Hemorrhoids.
- Headache.
- Hernia.
- Intermittent fever
- Menstrual headache.
- Menstruation, painful
- Overstrain, bodily or mental
- Paralysis
- Parotitis
- Phthiriasis
- Rheumatism
- Spasms.
- Spinal irritation
- Vertigo
- Vomiting
Dosage of Cocculus
- Adult and children 2 years of age and older: Dissolve 5 pellets under the tongue 3 times a day until relieved or as directed by a doctor.
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