Bri Hurlburt 0:03
Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:07
Hey Bri.
Bri Hurlburt 0:08
Hey Melissa. Hey. This is our first week of Materia Medica Monday. We've been really excited about this. We're just going to, every other episode, so about once a month-ish, cover a remedy. If you're familiar with the Materia Medica, it is usually a very detailed description and all of them are different based on who wrote it. Melissa has Robin Murphy's. If you are looking, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see it. If you can't, we have Robin Murphy. I also do. I have the third edition of Robin Murphy's Materia Medica. We're using part of his stuff, but part of just your notes, Melissa, from however many years that you’ve been doing this.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:51
College.
Bri Hurlburt 0:56
Our first remedy is Cimicifuga.
Melissa Crenshaw 0:59
Cimicifuga. Black cohosh.
Bri Hurlburt 1:03
I just learned that that was black cohosh. That's one of the herbs … well, it's a very controversial herb to use to induce labor, but it is one that you hear, maybe in the labor world.
Melissa Crenshaw 1:15
How funny that we're talking about this tonight when a mutual friend of ours.
Bri Hurlburt 1:23
Right? Her baby is just hanging out.
Melissa Crenshaw 1:27
Maybe she needs to take Cimicifuga.
Bri Hurlburt 1:28
I know, right? I'll probably call her after this and be like, “So, how's it going? You want any help? Maybe we should.”
Melissa Crenshaw 1:41
Cimicifuga. Let's just dig deep into this remedy. Bri, you can just stop me and ask questions or whatever. We'll just talk about it.
Cimicifuga is great for depression. It's a great depression remedy. Anxiety. This person might feel trapped, kind of like Sepia. They might feel like they don't have any options. They don't have a Plan B. They don't have any power in a situation. Maybe they're stuck in a job or they're in a marriage or a relationship where they are powerless and they can't even get out of there or escape. This person might feel trapped and oppressed by a wheezing situation. It's a bit more Sepia-like. They feel restricted by members of their family.
The woman who needs Sepia is kind of disconnected from her children and her husband. She's indifferent to them. She feels almost like they're a burden or like they're just weighing her down. She's got to do all these things. That's not normal, so mamas, if you're feeling that way, you can take Sepia or Cimicifuga because they're very much alike and help just lift you up and help you to come to that point of that balance of loving to do for your family or just being connected to your family. Not all women are the server. A lot of families break up all the responsibilities and everybody helps.
Bri Hurlburt 3:41
This reminds me of … I mean, the way that you feel in a situation doesn't always dictate what reality is. You obviously love your family and they're great and there’s wonderful things but you might still feel like that overall … I know later on we'll get to it, that overwhelmed feeling or just that trapped.
And I was thinking through this. Trapped sounds really extreme and bad and depression, it is a depression remedy, so that sounds extreme. But I'm thinking of my own self in situations where I'm like, “Oh my word, there's so much. This is heavy stuff.” And I get into these moods where I'm like there's no solution. I can't take anything out. I can't add anything in. There's nobody to help me and it gets … you know, I think we've all had a day or a period of time where you feel that way, like that powerless, I can't change anything to fix this or whatever.
Melissa Crenshaw 4:39
And this might be hormonal. If there are hormones out of balance or there's a liver issue, then that can cause those feelings and then the remedy will go in and rebalance, homeostasis, so that you’re not just feeling disconnected from your family even though you love them.
Bri Hurlburt 5:04
Would you expect this to correlate with a woman's cycle?
Melissa Crenshaw. 5:08
Maybe.
Bri Hurlburt 5:09
For women taking this. So if you took notes and maybe this is every week of my cycle I tend to feel this way. So it might be connected to hormones? Would that be? Okay.
Melissa Crenshaw 5:25
Yeah, definitely. Definitely a big hormone remedy.
This person might feel like they just need to break free. Maybe you're going into menopause, or you're in menopause and you are calling your friends like, “Let's go to the beach. I need to get away for a weekend.” There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all. But if you feel like that every day. Every day you feel like I need to break free, I need to get away, that can be extreme.
They feel like they're under a heavy weight. I think a lot of us probably know that feeling. They just feel like there's a weight on their shoulders or on them. And sometimes they might have a lot of arthritic pains alternating with hormones. Often arthritis comes along with menopause.
Bri Hurlburt 6:30
Oh yeah. I never thought about that before. Okay.
Melissa Crenshaw 6:37
Depression. Might be brought on by childbirth.
Bri Hurlburt 6:41
You mean a postpartum depression?
Melissa Crenshaw 6:43
Yeah, yeah. Postpartum depression. Cimicifuga and Sepia both have those. These are very closely related remedies.
Bri Hurlburt 6:51
And you would pick one of these? You would not take Sepia and Cimicifuga? Okay..
Melissa Crenshaw 6:55
That’s right.
There might be a lot of crying, weeping, especially weeping or crying while she's telling her symptoms. Sepia has a lot of that. They might have a gnawing sensation in their stomach. Cimicifuga is more likely to feel a weight pushing down on them, like heavy weather, clouds, pulling down. Sepia feels more pulled down from below like gravity. Like the earth is pulling them down. Sepia has a pulling down sensation and Cimicifuga has a pushing down.
Bri Hurlburt 7:45
Pushing down. Okay.
Melissa Crenshaw 7:50
Cimicifuga has a lot of fears about rats and delusions of rats and thoughts of rats.
Bri Hurlburt 7:57
So strange.
Melissa Crenshaw 8:00
Mm-hmm. So whenever you hear somebody talking about rats a lot, you might think of Cimicifuga.In the case of the knowing feeling in their stomach. Gnawing. That's what rats do. They gnaw. You know, they chew on things.
Bri Hurlburt 8:27
Oh yeah. This is so funny. It's always funny talking through remedies like this. That is true.
Melissa Crenshaw 8:34
After these women take Cimicifuga, they feel like a cloud, like a black cloud, has been lifted.
Bri Hurlburt 8:42
Hmm. And that's something somebody would say, like I feel like the cloud’s been lifted. You've heard that before. That's something really good to remember.
Melissa Crenshaw 9:01
This depression can look a little bit like Ignatia. They can have ailments from disappointed love, sadness, intense sighing. There can be insomnia. Dr. Hale’s Materia Medica says, “When melancholy is accompanied by sleeplessness, I've often found the cure in Cimicifuga.” So if someone is depressed and an insomniac at the same time, this is a remedy that might benefit them.
There might be a tendency to have these alternating states like depression can alternate with a higher energy, exalted state. Cheerful alternating with sadness. Physical symptoms can also alternate with depression, particularly joint pain. They can alternate between loquaciousness and taciturn, where they don't want to speak. So they don't want to speak
Bri Hurlburt 10:17
That melancholy type, really subdued.
Melissa Crenshaw 10:21
When I hear changeable symptoms like that, I often think of Pulsatilla first. I need to remember Cimicifuga also.
Bri Hurlburt 10:31
Yeah, this is a new … And it's funny, kind of ironic, I was just looking into this and it is closely related to some of those, to Pulsatilla and Sepia.
Melissa Crenshaw 10:41
Yeah. So hormonal. Hormones and liver.
Cimicifuga is foreboding. They feel like something bad is gonna happen. They have this feeling of doom. They sense that something terrible is about to happen. They might have anxiety. They might say something like, “I don't know what it is, but a disaster is going to happen.” They feel anxiety with agitation. They don't know what they want to do so they're pacing. Nervous wreck. This great restlessness. Beside themselves and agitated. The agitation combined with insomnia is Cimicifuga. Melancholy combined with insomnia is also Cimicifuga. They have a fear of going crazy.
Bri Hurlburt 11:46
This is what … like reading this I'm like, man, people have been there where you think “I am going nuts.” I love it here that it says if they're saying, “I expect you to think I'm crazy.” And it's wanting you to say back that it's totally normal and you're not crazy. Everybody has … you probably experienced this, like I said before, but somebody who's in this state a lot, it's relatable, I should say.
Melissa Crenshaw 12:23
And there's a great fear around it, so afraid I'm going to go crazy, have to be put in a place … what's it called?
Bri Hurlburt 12:34
Insane asylum or like a psycho ward.. And that's like extreme. I mean, I don't even know they have those. They don't have those anymore.
Melissa Crenshaw 12:44
They really worry about their loss of reason. They have a fear of dementia. They might be trapped. There might be a trapped feeling because of them looking after their elderly parent who has dementia. Cimicifuga can also help the person who feels trapped. If you've ever been the caretaker of an elderly person with dementia, you know they take 100% of your time and energy and they don't sleep at night. They get their days and nights mixed up, so you're not sleeping. If you start to feel trapped, like you can't go, you can't do, you can't go on vacation. You can't just run to the store. You can't go spend whatever time with other family members or friends or whatever. You feel trapped. There are many people who take care of elderly but they just do it and they're fine doing it. It's not that you feel trapped and you're also resentful but if you just constantly have that feeling of “I literally can't do anything and go anywhere” then you might could benefit from Cimicifuga.
They can be claustrophobic. They can be suspicious. It's a very suspicious remedy.
Bri Hurlburt 14:11
Later, or further down, it talks about just the suspicion even being like, “Are these remedies going to work,” or “Are they safe?” or something like that? What do you call it? It's not what I would normally think of suspicious but just skeptical.
Melissa Crenshaw 14:29
Skeptical. Yeah.
Bri Hurlburt 14:31
That's the word I thought of when I read some of the more in detail differentials.
Melissa Crenshaw 14:37
Like we said, this remedy can be very loquacious. They're very talkative, but not as witty as Lachesis. Lachesis is very loquacious but they're also very witty. Cimicifuga is not as witty. They're just very talkative. Sometimes they're very withdrawn and refuse to answer. Sometimes it's the opposite. They don't want to talk. They might look a bit like Lachesis from both of those things, and the suspiciousness and the fear that people are trying to poison them.
Bri Hurlburt 15:20
Wow. I don't know anybody who has said that in the past like 100 years, that I think somebody's going to poison me, so if somebody says that, you’d probably think very specifically it’s one of these remedies.
Melissa Crenshaw 15:36
Some of the physical symptoms of Cimicifuga are worse before their period. They may have pains in their uterus or from hip to hip. Dysmenorrhea, may go into their back or down their thighs. When they're a bit depressed with their periods, they feel very gloomy. They might have a sense of doom.
Bri Hurlburt 15:59
Is this one you would use acutely maybe for menstrual pain, like your period cramps? Sepia you don't take when you're on your period. Cimicifuga you can. It seems like it's for that kind of pain.
Melissa Crenshaw 16:17
That's true.
Bri Hurlburt 16:19
Okay, which makes sense if it's black cohosh. Okay, this is making sense to me.
Melissa Crenshaw 16:24
That's a very good observation.So if you're taking Sepia to uproot the condition, then you might use Cimicifuga while you're on your period to help. Very good.
They might have a sense of doom with lots of sighing like Ignatia. They're worse around ovulation. When all these symptoms come up around ovulation, that's a different time in the cycle, you might think Cimicifuga, but also Sepia, too. Sepia has that, too. With neuralgic pains and tiredness and debility around ovulation period.
This is a big remedy for arthritis and rheumatism. It’s particularly good for arthritis and rheumatism around menopause. Like I said, this can come up around menopause so Cimicifuga is a great one for that. Neck and shoulders are affected. There might be muscular soreness affecting the neck and the shoulders and sometimes an aching in the belly of the muscle, which is the center of the big muscles.
Bri Hurlburt 17:33
This is talking about the center of your neck and shoulder muscles?
Melissa Crenshaw 17:36
Yeah, or any of the big muscles, I think, too. Often they can have Achilles tendinitis. It can be tight and sore. They might have a backache that goes into the thighs and feels stiff. Their neck is often stiff and might crack
Bri Hurlburt 18:01
This is a big remedy.
Melissa Crenshaw 18:02
It is. It's an awesome one that actually I've never used myself, for myself.
Bri Hurlburt 18:07
You have used it?
Melissa Crenshaw 18:09
I have not. I probably could have used it. I probably might actually use it soon. I'm really liking this one.
Some general symptoms of Cimicifuga are chilly. They're usually chilly and thirsty. Restless. Rheumatic. Again, a big hormonal remedy. Worse for cold, damp, and alcohol. Yesterday, here in North Carolina, it was cold and raining and it literally drove me crazy. To be cold and wet …
Bri Hurlburt 18:40
It’s awful.
Melissa Crenshaw 18:43
It's awful. I was thinking about that last night. I was thinking I literally would rather be burning hot. Anything but cold and wet.
Bri Hurlburt 18:56
I am this same way. And I remind myself of that one. I am boiling here in Florida. I can change my mind in three seconds where I'm thinking I'm not cold and I'm not wet from snow or rain. I’m warm.
Melissa Crenshaw 19:11
When I sit out in the sun, literally every time I sit in the sun and the sun is shining on my face, I literally say, “Thank you, Jesus, for the sun. God, I thank you so much.” I am so thankful for the sun when I get to feel it on my face. So yeah, when it's raining, I don't want to go anywhere. Just really how much I hate it. So anyway.
Bri Hurlburt 19:35
Well, there you go. Maybe Cimicifuga is a great one for you to consider. Didn’t you just say your shoulders are bothering you?
Melissa Crenshaw 19:45
Yeah, it just started. Yeah, tonight. I was like, “What?” I don't know if you've noticed. I’ve been online doing this.
Okay, so very useful in menopause and puberty. Also around pregnancy and especially postnatal depression. Cimicifuga has the most depression and probably more anxiety. They have a lot of depression, anxiety, but maybe less of a sense of what's the point of me? There are some remedies, kind of like Aurum met, they're just like, “What's the point? Why am I here? I don’t even want to be here.” That's not Cimicifuga. Cimicifuga has the depression and anxiety but they don't have that sense of there's no point in being here.
All right. You hear my dog?
Bri Hurlburt 20:44
He wants attention.
Melissa Crenshaw 20:46
Okay, so let's see.
Bri Hurlburt 20:51
This remedy kit. So I know we've been talking a lot about women and hormones, female hormones. But this also can be used for men.
Melissa Crenshaw 21:03
Talk about that.
Bri Hurlburt 21:05
So just women in general have a more complex hormonal system than men. In general, these more hormone stuff, we do talk about women more because of just the nature of how we are created. It might be more likely that you're gonna see more women experiencing these things than men, but like the black cloud weighing down on him, some of that … I'm going back up here to other, like that suspicion, or the skepticism or the foreboding. I mean, that's all stuff men will experience. We just were talking about a lot of the physical stuff that relates more to the female hormones but these can definitely be used for men, as well.
Melissa Crenshaw 21:53
Yeah. The depression and hormone issues together in a man, Cimicifuga can be a great remedy for those.
When you're looking for, when you're trying to decide on remedies, when you start to differentiate … you know, we talked about how close Cimicifuga and Sepia are together, right? They are a lot alike. When you go to start looking up remedies and trying to figure out which remedy you need, you need to have at least three of your symptoms found within that remedy. And we call it the three legged stool. If you have a two legged stool, it's going to topple over, right? The three legged stool is sturdy. You want to have three symptoms that are covered in that remedy, at least. You're likely going to have more, but we don't have to match it 100%. We’re not looking for 100% match. We're looking for at least three symptoms.
Bri Hurlburt 23:12
Are you looking for some of those more bold ones? You know, not just like … because some can get so specific. Like sore shoulder. You know what I mean? It talks about pain in your shoulder. Do you want to look for more specific?
Melissa Crenshaw 23:29
Not necessarily. What I'm thinking is what you'll do is write down Cimicifuga and Sepia at the top of the paper and you'll start listing your symptoms that are found in the Materia Medica under each of those remedies that match you. The longest list wins.
So that's what you're going to do when you're trying to differentiate between remedies. You read them in the Materia Medica. The one that matches the most. But if you’re really liking Cimicifuga and you're like, “Wow, this sounds good,” but you can only find two of your symptoms in the whole thing, it's not your remedy.
Bri Hurlburt 24:09
Now it does come to mind for me when I think about Cimicifuga this one, if I’m having horrible cramping and I feel it in my back, down my legs, I don't think that's a situation where you need to really go to your Materia Medica and think really deep about Sepia or another one or this. That could be a situation where you read that and you're like, “Okay, I can just take that remedy.”
Melissa Crenshaw 24:33
Just do it. That's right.
Bri Hurlburt 24:34
But when we're talking, especially chronic or hormonal stuff, to do a little bit more digging then just pick one and try it.
Melissa Crenshaw 24:43
Yes. That's good. Mm hmm. Absolutely.
Bri Hurlburt 24:47
Okay, that was good. I learned a lot.
Melissa Crenshaw 24:50
Is that it? So the rest of those notes are sample cases, which we're not going to do, so yeah, that's good. That's Cimicifuga.
Bri Hurlburt 25:03
It does seem like this one is good for maybe just to look into … I know when you're feeling postpartum depression, this is not really a time where you want to go deep into learning a lot of extra things, but it does talk about that. That feeling of being trapped by your baby and I know that’s hard to say when you're in that situation, but really that's not normal, like you said. Consider that and that's okay. There are things you can do.
Melissa Crenshaw 25:31
Yeah, absolutely. Okay.
Bri Hurlburt 25:36
Thank you.
Melissa Crenshaw 25:37
Yes. Next week, we'll just do a regular episode or in two weeks, we'll do a regular episode and then we'll do another Materia Medica Monday in the future, in a few weeks or something.
I hope you enjoyed Cimicifuga. If you want to learn more about case taking and case management, get the mentorship program. Go grab that on my website. Look under the courses. You can find all my courses there on the website.
Bri Hurlburt 26:05
And in your mentorship program book, she has a workbook that comes with it. It has pages for many of the remedies we're probably going to cover that you can keep your notes in.
Melissa Crenshaw 26:17
Awesome. Yeah. That's right. Do you want me to show it to you?
Bri Hurlburt 26:20
Yeah, if you're on YouTube. It's very beautiful. I usually keep it in here. It's really pretty. I just printed mine at home on a little bit better quality paper. And you put your spiral bound. Wow, that's so pretty.
Melissa Crenshaw 26:40
I had this printed for me and had it spiral bound. It is beautiful. But look, it's full color. I don't know.
Bri Hurlburt 26:48
You did double sided, too.
Melissa Crenshaw 26:51
Yeah. It's a 100 page workbook. Full color. These are the pages that she was talking about where we're going to go through remedies, and you can make your notes. And this down here is for when you think of people in your family that need this remedy.
Bri Hurlburt 27:06
So, so smart.
Melissa Crenshaw 27:08
Because while you're writing it, you're gonna be like, “That's Grace.”
Bri Hurlburt 27:11
Uh huh.
Melissa Crenshaw 27:12
And so you write them down there. Yeah, it's just … it is so beautiful. The color is just so … I love color. I know most people who print a workbook try to make it more black and white or whatever, but I can’t.
Bri Hurlburt 27:28
And you did like the fonts pretty. It really is a pretty book. It's fun. I almost don't want to write in it because my writing is not as pretty as the book. Use a Sharpie pen. Do something pretty. It is a beautiful book and it has a lot of good, even reproducible pages, like case taking, family case record, remedy chart. There's a lot of … you put a lot of good stuff in there.
Melissa Crenshaw 27:53
Health chart, timeline. I had fun making this. I had a lot of fun making this. What is your why? You need to remember why you're using homeopathy. You need to write down what is your why so when things get tough, you can go look at that and be like, “Oh, yeah.”
Bri Hurlburt 28:08
Yup.
Melissa Crenshaw 28:09
That's why. All right.
Bri Hurlburt 28:13
Thank you so much.
Melissa Crenshaw 28:14
We'll see you in a few weeks.
Bri Hurlburt 28:17
All right. See you guys later.