Theridion Cases
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 1993 Jul / Aug Vol II No 4. 
Dr Kasivishwanathan T K.
` Ther

A major keynote of this drug is sensitiveness to noise. Dr. Clarke says in his Dictionary (pg. 1410), that the patient is aggravated by the slightest noise; sounds penetrate the teeth. This sensitiveness extends to vibrations of any kind, jar of a step, riding in a carriage or in a boat. Dr. H.C. Allen, in his Keynotes, underlines this symptom as "Every sound seems to penetrate through the whole body, causing nausea and vertigo".

Dr. Nash in his Leaders (Pg. 145) adds - "Asarum has a somewhat similar symptom which is worth remembering - Oversensitiveness of nerves, scratching of linen or silk, crackling of paper is unbearable (Tarax, Ferr).

"Three cases in which this keynote has formed the basis for selection of this remedy are given below -
Case 1
Abstracted from - Health through Homoeopathy - Oct. 1946 Mrs. S, aged 50, came with Menieres disease. Noises, deafness and giddiness quite often. She was seen by an Otologist who confirmed the diagnosis. She complained of rushing noises, giddiness and nausea. The worrying thing was that sounds and noises jarred in her ear. Every sound seemed like thunder. Theridion 30 was prescribed with marked improvement indeed. This exaggeration of sound disappeared completely. It returned later. Another single dose was given successfully. Her giddiness decreased though the tinnitus remained, although not as loud.

Case 2
Dr. E.A. Farrington in his Clinical Materia Medica (p. 82) adds - "Every penetrating sound and reverberation extends through the whole body. Headache worse if others even walk over the floor. I have relieved most intense headaches with Theridion, when this hypersensitiveness and nausea was present with an aggravation from motion". Bryonia is at times very similar in headaches. I once treated a lady suffering from intense and nausea which was worse from motion. Bryonia was given. It however failed. Later the patient added that noises made both the nausea and headache worse. I found the similimum in Theridion.

Case 3
More recently, Dr. Rajan Sankaran has given details of a case of paroxysmal cough in a 9 year old child, which was cured by Theridion, in his booklet Tarentula-hispanica A Study (Pg. 6-7) an The Spirit of Homoeopathy (pg 54-55). In it he says - "He came with paroxysmal cough which he had since four months. I gave him Drosera, Cuprum-met and several others but they did not benefit him. I observed him for 40 minutes and then suddenly I noticed a strange thing. The child was coughing in a very peculiar manner. He would hold the side of the chair everytime he would cough, the knees would go up and the head would go down". He found from a reference in Kents Repertory (Pg. 810) against the rubric Cough violent spasmodic jerking of the head forward and knees upward. Only Theridion is listed. The patients mother confirmed that he always coughed that way. Dr. Sankaran adds - "While the mother was telling me all this, her voice was very loud and the child said to her "keep quiet mother, I am getting a vomiting sensation". Looking in Kents repertory again nausea noise from, it was noticed that Cocculus and Theridion were indicated, but in view of the tremendous sensitiveness of the patient to noise causing nausea, Theridion 200 was prescribed which cured the patient within 24 hours.

It is interesting to note his subsequent observations on this drug - "To the next child that came and coughed like that I gave Theridion with a lot of confidence but it failed miserably. The reason - there was no sensitiveness to noise nor any other concomitant to indicate it.