Capsicum is prepared from red pepper. As a common notion,
when a thin, lean person is found to be restless, it is said that it is his
reaction to the pepper. However, the Capsicum patient is different
altogether. He is fat, flabby and shows
venous spiders on his face. His complexion is that of an alcoholic. The alcohol
affects the small blood vessels of the face, which turn into reddish looking
spider webs. The ingestion of chillies
also causes enhancement of the circulation to the skin. Whether the food is hot
or cold, the patient is hypersensitive to both. Hot things feel hotter and cold
things seem colder than they actually are. When a person, in the habit of
taking too much pepper, gives it up, his appetite becomes suppressed because
his digestive glands and the lining of the stomach have been tuned to work
under the stimulating effect of the chillies. When he resorts to taking pepper
again, his glands become active and produce acid for digestion, which in turn
stimulates the appetite.
Even though hot pepper causes burning and gives the
feeling of warmth, nevertheless the Capsicum patient is of a cool nature and
likes to live in well-heated room. A strange quality of the patient is that he
does not like to live outside his home for long. He feels homesick even if he
is not in the habit of taking too much hot pepper. A mere administration of two doses of Capsicum may somewhat
diminish his anxiety to return home.
A Capsicum patient is stubborn in nature. It has been seen
that in areas where a lot of hot pepper is consumed, the people there are
usually of a stubborn nature, but not everyone who eats pepper is essentially
of such a nature. An angry
nature with irritability and dissatisfaction resembles Chamomilla.
One cheek is red and the other is pale. This is commonly seen in diseases of
the children. The scalp sweats. The patient thinks of committing suicide but
does not dare. He is rather scared. He likes to live alone. The head or some
other part of the body feels magnified. It can also happen in Sabadilla. In
Capsicum, there is a feeling of throbbing. His severe headache becomes worse while resting,
while movement makes it subside.
The bone behind the ear becomes red and swollen (mastoiditis)
after a sore throat. This then becomes chronic. Phytolacca
and Conium are also useful in treating this condition. In cold, due to Capsicum, the face of the
patient is flushed but cold. The tip of
the nose is red. There is feeling of burning and irritation inside the nose.
The nose may even be blocked. The Cough is associated with a foul smell and
there is pain inside the throat. Small
blisters form on the tongue, which are painful to touch and cause
difficulty in swallowing.
In a patient of Capsicum, premature wrinkling of the skin is usual.The skin loses its elasticity and thick lines become
prominent. Capsicum is useful in
treating flabby muscles associated with defective circulation.Capsicum may be used in the treatment of measles when the face is
markedly congested and no other treatment works. Another special characteristic
of Capsicum is that the tonsils
swell but they are soft and can be reduced in size by pressure, like
a sponge. In Capsicum, burning in the stomach after
food is very pronounced. Dysentery and diarrhoea
are associated with a feeling of warmth inside the belly. The burning sensation
(tenesmus) continues after defecation. There is an intense desire to drink cold
water.
Haemorrhoids burn and are
swollen and red. Persistent hoarseness of voice is
also a symptom of Capsicum. If other symptoms of Capsicum are present, this
remedy will prove effective. For the hoarseness of voice, Phosphorus,
Causticum, Sulphur, Lycopodium, Coca, Psorinum and Borax are used. The irritation of the larynx (voice box) and
trachea provokes dry cough, along
with a hissing sound in the chest and pressure on the bladder on coughing.
There is chest pain on breathing and pain on the left lower ribs in the heart
area. Other symptoms of Capsicum are a dislike for the open air, relief of
symptoms with heat and taking food, aching over different parts of the body,
random twitching of
the facial muscles, and prominence of the bones at the temple associated with
inflammation.
Capsicum is useful for the treatment of elderly people who
have been involved in intellectual work throughout their lives but in later
years of life, due to changing circumstances could not afford an easier
lifestyle.