TRADITIONAL INTERNAL MEDICINE – DISEASES & FORMULAS

Poison

“As a protection against poison one may wear upon himself precious stones, the diamond, the green emerald, the opal, the (so-called) ‘picuka’, the “viṣamūṣikā“, the red ruby, the snake-gem, the cat’s eye, the elephant-pearl and similar stones, as well as amulets containing certain herbs that possess antidotal properties.” (Charaka)

The treatment of various types of Poison including plant poisons, the bites of venomous animals and insects, and metal and mineral poisons has been an important part of medicine from a very early time. In the most basic primitive tribes, knowledge of plants used against local poisons is one of the earliest classes of medicines to be recognized.

During the Ancient Greece and Roman periods, poisons were well known and often used. This led to the composition of great compounds against poison, the pinnacle of which was Mithridate named after its inventor King Mithridate of Pontus who ruled 120–63 BCE. So paranoid was he of poisoning that he spent years learning antidotes against various Poisons. Many of these were composed into his grand antidote Mithridate, containing over 60 ingredients, and used as a universal antidote for nearly 2 millennia.

The Characteristics of Poisons

The following is from Al-Dhakhira fī ‘Ilm al-Tibb (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
“All poisons have four characteristics, which are as follows:

  1. Hot and corrosive
  2. Hot and dry
  3. Cold and dry
  4. Opposite the body’s humors

The symptoms of the first group include stomach cramp and severe pain feeling in some internal organs
The symptoms of the second group include pain and inflammation of the whole body, sweating, facial redness, extreme sadness (depression), thirst, yellow hands, difficulty breathing, and fainting
The third group includes dryness of the body, falling off, burning pain, and comatose
The fourth group includes rapid breathing (tachypnea), loss of strength (lethargy), and consistent unconsciousness

First group treatment: Give milk, butter, and almond oil to the patient. Also give him gradually Falouzej (boiled starch prepared on ice) diluted with almond oil
Second group treatment: Give Sawiq [roasted grains made into a gruel] with sugar and a lot of ice water, or even ice water alone to the patient. Also, give camphor soaked in almond oil and sesame oil. Soothe the locations of burning pains with cold alga (kelp). Moreover, give cow’s skimmed milk with ice and
ice-cooled fruit juices
Third group treatment: Theriac or Mithridate, or the milk with a little wine. If those mentioned are not available; give Galbanum, Myrrh, Agaric, and Armenian (Red) Earth. Also, feed to the patient Garlic, Walnuts, Rue leaves, and salt, and poach a chicken and give its broth to the patient; it is greatly beneficial for poisons, or cook a chubby goose and give him its fatty broth. Or cook a lamb’s foot with peeled wheat and barley, and let the patient to sip its broth. Massage the patient’s hands and feet (dry massage without oil), and warm the patient with covering the body with Kimad (a heated cloth bag equivalent to today’s hot-water bottle), and warm the patient’s body especially his head and chest
The fourth group treatment: This is the worst and the deadliest case; immediately give Theriac or Mithridate and strengthen the patient with meat juice, place the patient in a windy and cold room, and the patient needs to put on a thin shirt fragranced with Sandalwood. Rub on his stomach, make him sneeze, pluck his hair from time to time, and if he gets too weak, breathe into his mouth. If he becomes unconscious and weak and sweats cold, he will die”.

Guidelines for Ingested Poison

  • “As soon as a person feels concerned about suspicious poisoning, he should drink tepid water and liquid fat and vomit and drink it again and vomit again and continue like this until he feels that concern is gone”
  • “If the vomiting stops before the anxiety subside, physicians should give him cooked radish and dill mixed with honey, borax, and salt to make him vomit. He may settle down, if not, they should use soft and laxative suppositories to empty his gastrointestinal tract. Also, prescribe oral laxative medicines to induce diarrhea. If he calms down with these things, that is good, if not, check the kind of poison”.

Animal Poisons

Snake & Viper Bite

1. Mithridate or Theriac can be given
2. Garlic taken with strong wine. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
1. Blackberry: “The Berries or the Flowers are a powerful remedy against the Poison of the most Venomous Serpents, as well drunk as outwardly applied”. (Culpeper)
2. Centuary: “A dram of the Powder thereof taken in Wine, is a wonderful good help against the biting and Poison of the Adder”. (Culpeper)
3. Elecampane “stays the spreading of the venom of Serpents”.
4. Germander: “It is most effectual against the Poison of all Serpents, being drunk in Wine and the bruised herb outwardly applied used with Honey”. (Culpeper)
5. “Sometimes Poisons are so great puislant to Poison, that Wolfsbane [Aconitum napellus] given in warm wine is approved to be a most wholesome medicament for those that are stung by a Viper or a Scorpion, as some most experienced physicians affirm”. (Mizaldus)
6. A small amount of Realgar (about 200mg) can be taken with several crushed Garlic cloves, washed down with water.
7. Apply one of the following crushed to the place: Onion or Snake ashes. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)

Wasp & Hornet Sting

1. Apply a cupping glass to the sting or suck it through a tube, then apply Basil juice, and cover with a mix of clay and vinegar.
2. Mix equal parts of Camphor and Ceruse, apply, cover with a bandage, then apply a cloth soaked in ice water, (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
3. Apply a mix of Marshmallow and Vinegar

Scorpion & Spider

“Whatever was useful for a Scorpion sting is also useful for spiders and the treatment is the same”. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
1. Give Garlic to eat, and beat fresh Garlic and apply; or oil that Garlic was boiled in. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
2. Apply Asafetida or Black Pepper topically, and give strong wine to drink.
3. “Eating Sagapanum is useful” (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
3. Take 1 dram of a syrup of Hazelnuts or Caesalpinia.
4. Eat Radish leaves
5. Eating Basil protects from the pain of Scorpion sting, according to some.
6. Specific Antidote to Scorpion Bite: Long Birthwort, Dandelion and Caper (equal amounts) mixed with Honey. Dose is 2–3 drams. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)

Rabies

“Maintain the body fluid of the patient and prevent dehydration”. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
1. “It will not be amiss to add here what was showed by an Oracle, that the root of Eglantine Rose, or Sweet Briar, is the principle and only remedy against the biting of a Mad Dog”. (The Secrets of Art and Nature)
2. “An old German physician claimed to have cured 47 cases of Hydrophobia with Elecampane, without a single failure”. (Ellingwood’s Therapeutist)
3. An ancient Greek remedy was to rub the part bitten with Garlic, and then drink a decoction of the same. This has been used by several Physicians in the past century or so with reportedly good success.
4. “Put a mixture of garlic, onion, and mustard on the bite site”. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
6. Apply strong cupping glasses to the bites, then wash copiously with a strong decoction of Dodder. (Thabit ibn Qurra, 9th C.)
5. Beat Rue, mix with Olive oil and apply. The same can be taken internally.
6. Drink Whey.
6. Beat Walnuts and Alum and apply.
7. Burn paper to ashes, mix into a paste with Oil and apply.

Powder Against Rabies
Theriac of Crabs

Plant Poisons

Opium

1. Feverfew: ‘It is an especial Remedy against Opium taken too liberally’. (Culpeper)
2. Mugwort: ‘The Herb it self being fresh or the Juice thereof taken, is a special Remedy upon the overmuch taking of Opium’. (Culpeper)
3. Asafetida

Aconite

1. Fresh Ginger
2. Licorice
3. Asafetida
4. Garlic
5. Ground Pine: ‘It is an especial Remedy for the Poison of the Aconites of all sorts’. (Culpeper)
6. Herb True-Love: ‘The Leaves or Berries hereof are effectual to expel Poison of all sorts, especially that of the Aconites’. (Culpeper)
7. Borax

Poisonous Mushrooms

1. Vomit as soon as possible
2. Give Rue, Marjoram and Honey in drink
3. Theriac or Mithridate
4. Eating raw Garlic is said to counteract Toxic Mushrooms and was used by the peasants instead of Theriac.

Mineral Poisons

Mercury

Garlic
China root
Sarsaparilla

Lead

Lemon juice
Garlic
Horsetail

General Formulas Against Poison

1. Child’s Urine mixed with wine and drunk. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“)

Bezoardic Powder of Viper
Bezoardic Powder of Deer horn
Troches of Vipers
Red Hungarian Powder
The Saxonian Powder 
Powder for Mortal Poison
The Goa Stone
Electuary Against Poison of Frankfurt
Electuary of Juniper Berries 
Electuary of Nuts
Electuary of Sulphur (Unani)
Theriac of 4 Ingredients (Diatessaron)
Theriac of Sealed Earth
The Orvietan Antidote
Hiera Logadii
Theriac
Mithridate
Tincture of Rue
Treacle Vinegar of France 
Hiera Logadii

Great Decoction 25 (Thang chen nyer lnga)
Indian Bael Pills (Bilwadi Gutika) (Ayurveda)

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