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Botany
The family Paeonaceae contains only a single genus, Paeonia, of which there are roughly 150 species. In homeopathy we use Paeonia officinalis, the peony, also known as Paeonia europea.
Perennial herbaceous plants make up the majority of peonies, which grow between 0.5 and 1.5 metres high. Occasionally there are peonies that become woody shrubs reaching up to three metres in height. They have compound, deeply lobed foliage and large, mostly fragrant flowers. Flower colours range from red through white to yellow; flowering time is late spring to early summer. The Paeonaceae were formerly grouped with hellebores and anemones in the Ranunculaceae. In modern taxonomy peonies are placed in the botanical order Saxifragales. The peony is the traditional symbol of China and since 1957 the official floral emblem of the US state of Indiana.
Indications in Homeopathy
Paeonia is a well-known remedy for venous complaints, especially varicose veins and venous congestion. The remedy has proved particularly effective for haemorrhoids, i.e. varicose veins of the anus that are painful, inflamed, swollen and bleed. The inflammation can be accompanied by fissures and ulcers. The ulcers may also include decubitus sores or leg ulcers.
Paeonia officinalis, Case: woman, 50, haemorrhoids.
The patient has haemorrhoids. There is a risk of the haemorrhoids becoming inflamed and developing a thrombosis. The haemorrhoids hurt severely and are extremely sensitive to touch; better in cold and warm weather; worse when sitting and lying; worse after bowel movements.
As a child she had a haemangioma on the chin and cheek and had to undergo surgery three times because of it.
Fears: darkness, thunder, storms.
Analysis
Carbon series: fear of the dark. Paeonia: inflamed haemorrhoids, thrombosis; worse from touch, better in cold, worse when sitting, worse when lying, worse after bowel movements; haemangioma.
Paeonia and the psyche
Little was previously known about the emotional symptoms of Paeonia. Jan Scholten first described the remedy essence in a 15-year-old patient; this was later confirmed by further cases.
The main themes are family and home. For Paeonia people a stable home is important; they dislike changes. Sudden and unexpected changes in particular seem to distress them greatly. They cannot bear being sent away from home, for example to a boarding school. Complaints arise when they are abandoned by the family. They then feel uprooted. This is probably the reason for the strong, cutting and stabbing pains (like knife stabs) characteristic of the remedy.
The peony itself is also known for being difficult to transplant: it may take years to flower again after being moved.
Paeonia people fear that they might lose their family. This fear follows them into their dreams, where they dream that relatives die. In general they are rather anxious people, afraid of strangers and new situations. They prefer that nothing changes at all; it is almost a form of nostalgia. They can become very depressed if they lose their home or if similarly traumatic events occur.
Series and stages according to Jan Scholten
In his homeopathic system of the plant kingdom Jan Scholten places Paeonia officinalis under number 652.11.01. The emphasis here is on the carbon series, i.e. the inner development corresponds to that of a small child. Personality, ego and self-image are not yet fully formed, which is why the themes of family and home are so prominent. People who respond well to this remedy can appear naive and childlike. Paeonia is placed not only in Phase and Subphase 1 but also in Stage 1, underlining the impulsive, naive and unstable personality traits.
General symptoms
Temperature: chills; cold limbs with (burning) heat in the face, back and chest
Time: < 5 pm
Food and drink: loss of appetite; thirst
Worse from touch, pressure, movement, bowel movements
Sleep: restless, not refreshing, drowsy in the afternoon; terrible dreams, nightmares
Complaints, modalities and indications
Epilepsy, convulsions
Dizziness, better when drinking water, when moving, in a warm room, accompanied by constant reeling and staggering
Headaches: congestion of blood, throbbing; temporal arteritis
Eyes: burning, itching, red, watery, dry, burning, difficult to open; inflammation of the left eye
Face: red, congestion of blood, swollen, burning heat
Nose: blocked, morning and evening
Tongue: red
Chest: ulcers
Chest: stabbing pains, cutting in the left side when sitting bent forwards; heat in the chest; sharp pains in the ribs above the liver, in the morning
Heart: pain; dull pains shooting from front to back through the heart; anxiety
Stomach: ulcers better from drinking water; nausea, vomiting
Abdomen: pain, colic, rumbling
Sternum: pain; ulcers
Rectum: itching, burning, stabbing, cutting, as if from knives, as if sitting on broken glass; worse from the slightest touch and from bowel movements; haemorrhoids that bleed during stool
Toes: cutting pains, like from a knife
Liver: tonic
Female genitalia: swollen and painful; cleanses the uterus after childbirth
Anus: fissures; fistulae; abscesses; haemorrhoids; ulcers
Veins: varicose veins, inflamed, red, painful, with congestion of blood; periarteritis nodosa
Extremities: pain, cramps in wrists and fingers, knees and toes; ulcers on the coccyx
Skin: pressure sores; leg ulcers; small ulcers on the perineum near the anus that constantly ooze; very unpleasant, foul-smelling moisture; sensation of a splinter
Key terms: Paeonia officinalis, arteritis, haemorrhoids, veins, sudden, unexpected change
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Source: http://www.interhomeopathy.org/paeonia_officinalis_picture
Photo: 1227844426 by islavicek, 1104252761 by Flower_Garden
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