Ignatia Amara is an extraordinary homeopathic medicine used for the symptoms associated with emotional complaints such as hysteria, worry, effects of grief, spasmodic hiccough, mood swings, sadness, and consistent crying.
It acts like magic in cases associated with mental disturbances, grief, sensitivity to pain, hidden and bottled up emotions.
It is also very helpful in cases such as a headache associated with congestion and high blood pressure, weakness of the eye muscles, neuralgic pain in orbit, sore and clotted throat, and ear pain due to emotions.
Ignatia Amara is a homeopathic remedy derived from the beans of a tree called Strychnos Ignati. This tree belongs to the Loganiaceae family and is found abundantly in the Philippines and parts of China.
The tree and its medicinal properties were first described by a Jesuit Brother working in the Philippines. He named the beans ‘Beans of St Ignatius’ in honor of the founder of his religious order.
So let’s explore the benefits of this very useful homeopathic medicine.
Ignatia Amara Constitution/Personality
This remedy is helpful for highly emotional women.
The emotional plane dominates all the aspects of their life and even interferes with their day-to-day functioning.
These women are compassionate, get excited quickly, and can cry at the drop of a hat.
Great Contradiction and Rapid Change of symptoms are observed at the mind as well at the physical level.
Grief is the most potent trigger in these females, and almost all complaints are triggered by or can be traced back to an episode of grief.
Ignatia Amara Mind Symptoms
The emotional plane is highly activated in Ignatia. This remedy is well suited to women who are very sensitive and cry easily. Minor issues hurt them deeply.
They can sit for hours brooding on the events that happened. the characteristic ‘weeping and sighing’ is found in Ignatia.
The Ignatia lady enjoys being sad. Thinking about a past tragic event in her life and meditating on it, and weeping a little makes her happy.
Ignatia can be a valuable remedy for girls who are delicate, who faints at the slightest provocation.
‘Faints in the church’ is a symptom that is found in Ignatia. It paints a rather vivid picture of the compassionate, pale-faced, delicate little Ignatia girl.
These girls desire to be left alone; everything irks them, and being reprimanded or being advised by well-wishers brings out the worst.
They fancy themselves in love with married men and then brood and weep and sigh over the unattainable. Ignatia is a remedy of contradictions. The moods of the Ignatia lady are highly changeable.
The lady can go from being hysterical to calm and from weeping to laughing within seconds.
Ignatia Amara Uses
I will take you through all the body parts from toe to head.
You can match the symptoms and when you feel these symptoms are matched then you can take Ignatia Amara-
1-Head Complaints
Ignatia is a good remedy for an episode of grief, headache, crying, or anger. The headache is of a congestive type.
Bending forwards, stooping, drinking coffee, and tobacco smell all aggravate her headache. There is severe cramp-like pain at the root of the nose.
The pain in the head feels like a nail has been driven through the side of the head.
Loss of hair in copious amounts following grief is highly suggestive of Ignatia Amara.
2-Eyes Complaints
There is a frequent episode of bright flashes before the eyes.
Flickering zigzags before the eyes. Coughing brings on the flashes of eyes. Neuralgic pain is seen around the eyeball.
The eyelids are in spasm. Clinically indicated in Asthenopia.
3-Ears Complaints
Ignatia has some peculiar ear complaints.
The lady will tell you that she cannot hear anything except for human voices.
There will be intense roaring in her ears which is better by listening to loud music.
On examination, one ear is red and hot while the other is perfectly normal.
4-Nose Complaints
The root of the nose is highly sensitive.
There is a cramp-like pain at the root of the nose. The lady is very sensitive to inspired air.
She frequently gets attacks of sneezing that go on to develop into a full-blown cold.
5-Face Complaints
One cheek is red and hot. The redness and paleness keep alternating.
The face changes color while at rest. The facial muscles keep twitching.
Ignatia is a remedy for emotional trismus. The facial muscles distort hideously while attempting to speak.
6-Mouth Complaints
The muscles around the mouth twitch. There is a lot of salivation.
The taste in the mouth is sour.
There is toothache which is aggravated by drinking coffee and by tobacco.
Spasmodic closing of the jaws is seen; this ends up biting the inside of the cheek or tongue while talking or chewing.
7-Throat Complaints
Ignatia is a good remedy for follicular tonsillitis.
The tonsils are swollen and inflamed. They are hard and show multiple white ulcers on them.
The lady will complain that there is a lump in her throat that is not allowing her to swallow.
This feeling is better by swallowing solid food. There is a tendency to choke while eating.
The stitching pain extends to the ears. Submaxillary glands are swollen and make it very painful to move the neck.
Clinically Ignatia can be used for cases of goiter in hysterical, emotionally sensitive females.
8-Chest and Respiratory Complaints
Ignatia is home to the keynote ‘Takes deep breaths for relief.’ This keynote applies to all aspects. Be it grief, pain in the abdomen, backache, or headache; a deep breath makes her feel good.
Cough is another characteristic seen in Ignatia. The cough comes in sharp spasmodic shocks, shutting off the breath. Interestingly, the coughing sparks the desire to cough further.
Every time he stands still during a walk, he coughs. The chest feels constricted as if it is too small.
The coughing causes spasms of the glottis leading to choking. He cannot too loudly and ends up whispering.
The coughing exhausts him and makes him sleepy. ‘Sleepy after coughing’ is another keynote of Ignatia.
In severe lung pathology, he may complain of stitching pain in the nipples while taking a deep breath or even upon regular inspiration.
9-Heart Complaints
During menses, there is a lot of beatings. An anxious feeling in the chest region is seen.
10-Stomach Complaints
Ignatia is characterized by intense hunger with nausea.
She craves food, but when anything is offered, her appetite goes off, and she is left nauseous.
Sour foods, raw uncooked food, indigestible foods are the things she craves intensely. Warm food, meat, alcohol, and tobacco do not suit her.
There is an empty, sinking feeling in the stomach, a spasmodic ache that is not better by eating but typically better by taking a deep breath.
She gets frequent hiccoughs with eructation that are empty or leave a bitter taste in the mouth.
Hiccoughs and eructation are brought on by eating and drinking hot foods.
11-Abdominal Complaints
Colicky pain is felt in one or both sides of the abdomen.
Throbbing pain with a weak feeling is felt in the upper abdomen.
Loud rumbling noises are heard in the bowels.
12-Rectum Complaints
Colicky pain is felt in one or both sides of the abdomen. Ignatia is a good remedy for blind hemorrhoids.
The piles show prolapse even with moderate straining. The stools are soft, yet there is pain while defecating.
There is pressure as if an object is being pushed outwards.
One can feel constrictive pain around the anal opening and burnings for a couple of hours after stools.
The hemorrhoid pains are felt more when the stool is loose.
Exposure to cold air, eating or drinking cold foods leads to the development of constipation.
13-Urinary Complaints
There is a constant urge to urinate. But every time he visits the toilet, he is unable to pass urine fully and satisfactorily.
14-Male Organs Complaints
Ignatia is the remedy for the highly peculiar symptom of ‘urging to pass stool while fully erect.’
The person will complain that his sexual activities are hindered because he has the sudden urge to go to stool every time he is aroused.
The male private part is contracted, becomes small. The scrotum is very sweaty.
15-Female Organs Complaints
The symptoms in the Ignatia lady are highly changeable.
So, at one time, she may complain that her menses arrived too late, and at other times, she may say that her menses have been delayed by several days.
Similarly, her flow will be either too dark or bright red and very profuse or scanty.
The Ignatia lady experiences sexual frigidity while performing the act.
She is highly aroused when she imagines herself in a sexual act with an imaginary/unavailable man.
But getting intimate with the real man in her life is annoying and painful, and unsatisfactory.
These ladies have a long-standing history of leucorrhea. The leucorrhea is thick and foul-smelling but does not itch intensely.
16-Back Complaints
The back becomes stiff quite quickly.
The nape of the neck, too, becomes stiff.
There is convulsive bending of the back in the backward direction.
17-Hands & Legs Complaints
Ignatia can come across as quite a nervous person. She will tell you that she cannot write correctly when someone is watching her.
Her hands tremble involuntarily when the examiner is standing behind her, peering over her answer sheet.
His palms get all sweaty, and her pen keeps slipping away.
While walking, her knees are involuntarily drawn upwards. She frequently suffers from pain in the calves.
There is intense burning in the heels, but they feel cold when she brings them close to each other.
Sciatic pains are handled in the winter season. She suffers from a painful corn on her soles.
‘Knees hot and nose cold’ is an accompanying symptom that may be seen clinically with several other symptoms.
Her body feels painful and bruised, and she will complain that she feels her flesh is hanging loose from the bones.
18-Skin Complaints
Ignatia is a good remedy for nettle rash that comes on during fever.
The skin all over the body is painful, and applying hard pressure over the affected area relieves her of the pain.
19-Fever Complaints
Hot knees and cold nose is a typical symptom seen in Ignatia fever.
During the heat stage, the lady will show aversion to uncovering the body.
She will have no thirst even though she is burning up.
The sweating stage comes on after eating. Sweat is seen in small spots over the face.
During the chill stage, the look is flushed red. The whole body shivers and the lady will be extremely thirsty.
20-Sleep Complaints
Ignatia shows violent spasmodic yawning, with tears running down from her eyes.
The lady is a very light sleeper, and even the slightest sound wakes her up.
There is jerking of limbs on going to sleep.
Somnambulism, the act of walking around in sleep, is brought on by wounded honor. She keeps seeing a horrid dream over and over again.
In kids, the horrible repetitive dreams lead to shrieking cries in the middle of the night. The child wakes up trembling with fear.
Ignatia is a good remedy for grinding the teeth in young kids during sleep.
Ignatia Amara Modalities
Modalities are the factors which, increase or decrease the complaints in a patient.
They are categorized as aggravating factors and amelioration factors.
Aggravating factors make the condition of the illness worst, while the amelioration factor makes the condition of the disease better.
It can be time, any part of the day, season, position, or any applications, etc.
Aggravated By–
-Emotions like grief, chagrin, worry, fright, shock.
-After losing a person or object that was very dear
-open-air
-cold air
-tobacco smell
-coffee
-being touched
-stooping or walking.
-at the same hour and day
Amelioration By–
–Changing position
-lying on the affected part
-applying pressure
-Taking long, deep breaths
-being alone
-Thinking about past unpleasant, sad events
-weeping and sighing
-raw, undigestible foods
-sour foods
-warmth
Ignatia Amara Relationship with Other Medicines
In Homoeopathy, the medicinal actions of a drug can be influenced by other Homoeopathic drugs such as medicines that can complement, antidote, follow each other.
The remedy relationship of Ignatia Amara is as follows.
Complementary Medicines: Aurum Met, Natrum Mur, Phosphoric Acid, Sepia
It Antidotes: Pulsatilla, Chamomilla, Cocculus
It is antidoted by: Nux vomica, Tabacum
Followed well by Natrum Mur, Sepia
Ignatia Amara Dosage & Potency
Homeopathic medicines are prescribed based on the similarity of the symptoms. The symptoms presented by the patient are matched with the symptoms of the remedy.
Depending on the extent of symptom similarity, the potency and repetition are decided. The more significant number of symptoms that match, the higher is the potency used.
Similarly, if a smaller number of symptoms match the remedy, then a lower potency is used.
Other than this, one major factor in deciding the dosage and repetition is peculiar and rare symptoms. These are the seemingly irrelevant symptoms to the pathology, and they appear to have no relevance to the case whatsoever.
Indeed, these are the ones that, more often than not, maybe dismissed as a joke and not taken seriously. But these are the ones that define the person.
These symptoms are the ones vital to a homeopathic prescription as they are the ones that help us understand the person suffering from the disease.
So more the number of these peculiar and rare symptoms higher should be the dose used, and lesser should be the repetition.
Homeopathic remedies are powerful and profound acting. They have to be prescribed with utmost care and judiciousness.
Ignatia Amara 30C Uses–
This is a potency reserved for cases where the medicine is required in a purely therapeutic dose. The symptoms presented by the patient help the doctor to make a diagnosis of the disease, but they show less matching with the symptoms of the remedy as such, in this case, Ignatia.
This dose needs to be repeated frequently, like 3 to 4 times a day.
One may dissolve the pills or the dilution in water and consume as per the doctor’s advice.
Ignatia Amara 200C Uses–
This potency should be used when the symptoms of the remedy match well with the person’s symptoms. This potency calls for a lot of symptoms peculiar to Ignatia to be present.
200C is repeated infrequently. After administering the first dose, it is advisable to wait for the symptoms to subside. Repeating has to be done only till the symptoms disappear.
Ignatia Amara 1M Uses–
This is a very high potency and should be used cautiously. It should be thought of only when the symptom similarity is perfect, and the remedy picture perfectly matches the patient’s presentation.
Ignatia Amara Side Effects
Side-effects to homeopathic medicines are an infrequent phenomenon.
It may so happen that the symptoms may subside temporarily and then come back with a renewed strength and severity. This occurs when the medicine has been repeated more than what was required.
It may also happen that the person may come back saying that he has developed an entirely new set of symptoms while all his old symptoms are still present. This means that the remedy prescribed was the wrong one.
In both cases, it is advisable to give a suitable antidote to Ignatia.
You may have to re-work the case as a new totality has emerged. Based upon this new totality, you may have to prescribe Ignatia in a different potency or a new remedy altogether that matches the newly formed aggregate.
Keep a lookout for these symptoms, and they are the red flags on your path to recovery-
1.Restlessness
2.Anxiety
3. Heightened sense of perception
4.Enhanced reflexes
5. Painful back
6.Neck Stiffness
7.Twitching
8. Jaw and neck spasms
9.Convulsions of the entire body
10.Increased muscle tension
11.Difficulty in breathing
13.Kidney failure.
14. Seizures.