Acanthosis Nigricans
Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a skin
disorder characterized by abnormally increased coloration (hyper pigmentation)
and "velvety" thickening (hyperkeratosis) of the skin, particularly of skin fold
regions, such as of the neck and groin and under the arms (axillae). Various
benign (non-cancerous) forms of AN have been identified in which the disorder
may be inherited as a primary condition or associated with various underlying
syndromes; an excess accumulation of body fat (obesity); or the use of certain
medications (i.e., drug-induced AN). In other instances, AN may occur in
association with an underlying cancerous tumor (i.e., malignant AN).
Experts suggest that AN may be a skin manifestation of insulin resistance, which
is a condition characterized by impaired biological responses to insulin.
Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, regulates blood glucose levels by
promoting the movement of glucose into cells for energy production or into the
liver and fat cells for storage. (Glucose is a simple sugar that is the body's
primary source of energy for cell metabolism.) Insulin resistance may be
associated with various disorders, including obesity and non-insulin-dependent
(type II) diabetes mellitus. In individuals with type II diabetes mellitus, the
pancreas produces insulin but the body becomes resistant to its effects, leading
to insufficient absorption of glucose and abnormally increased glucose levels in
the blood (hyperglycemia) and urine. As a result, there may be a gradual onset
of certain symptoms, including excessive urination (polyuria) and increased
thirst (polydipsia), and the development of particular complications without
appropriate treatment.
|
Remedy |
Characteristics Symptoms |
Patient Worse by |
Patient Better by |
| Sepia | Weariness and misery Weakness, yellow complexion, bearing-down sensation, Upward tendency of its symptoms Easy fainting "Ball" sensation in inner parts Acts best on brunettes Feels cold even in warm room Feeling of goneness; not relieved by eating Everything tastes too salty Longing for vinegar, acids, and pickles Loathes fat Red, adhesive, sand in urine. Leucorrhœa yellow, greenish; with much itching |
Forenoons and evenings Washing Laundry-work Dampness Left side After sweat Cold air Before thunder-storm After milk, especially when boiled |
By exercise Pressure Warmth of bed Hot applications Drawing limbs up Cold bathing After sleep |
| Antimonium Crudum | Excessive irritability and fretfulness A thickly-coated white tongue Cannot bear heat of sun Tendency to grow fat No thirst; thirst in evening and night. Loss of appetite Desire for acids, pickles Urine frequent, with burning, and backache; turbid and foul odor Menses too early and profuse Leucorrhœa watery; acrid, lumpy Thick, hard, honey-colored scabs |
In evening From heat Acids Wine Water Washing Wet poultices By cold bathing |
In open air During rest Moist warmth |
| Lachesis | When the system is thoroughly poisoned and the
prostration is profound Very important during the climacteric and for patients of a melancholic disposition Sensation of tension in various parts Cannot bear anything tight anywhere Craving for alcohol, oysters Any food causes distress Hungry, cannot wait for food Menses too short, too feeble; pains all relieved by the flow Intense excitement of sexual organs Patient sleeps into an aggravation Sudden starting when falling asleep Sleepiness, yet cannot sleep Wide-awake in evening Skin hot perspiration, bluish, purplish appearance |
After sleep Sleeps into aggravation Left side In the spring Warm bath Pressure or constriction Hot drinks Closing eyes |
Appearance of discharges Warm applications |
| Lycopodium | Is adapted more especially to ailments gradually
developing Atony Suits older persons, where the skin shows yellowish spots, earthy complexion, uric acid diathesis, etc; also precocious, weakly children Intolerant of cold drinks; craves everything warm Best adapted to persons intellectually keen, but of weak, muscular power Emaciation Debility in morning Pre-senility is thin, withered, full of gas and dry Lacks vital heat; has poor circulation, cold extremities Pains come and go suddenly Sensitive to noise and odors Dyspepsia due to farinaceous and fermentable food, cabbage, beans, etc Excessive hunger Aversion to bread, etc Desire for sweet things Food tastes sour Sour eructations Eating ever so little creates fullness Cannot eat oysters Rolling of flatulence Wakes at night feeling hungry Incomplete burning eructations rise only to pharynx there burn for hours Likes to take food and drink hot Polyuria during the night; heavy red sediment No erectile power; impotence; premature emission Menses too late; last too long, too profuse. Leucorrhœa, acrid, with burning in vagina Drowsy during day Starting in sleep Dreams of accidents Painful callosities on soles Skin becomes thick and indurated |
Right side From right to left From above downward 4 to 8 pm From heat or warm room, hot air, bed Warm applications, except throat and stomach which are better from warm drinks |
By motion After midnight From warm food and drink On getting cold From being uncovered |
| Arsenicum Album | All-prevailing debility, exhaustion, and
restlessness, with nightly aggravation Great exhaustion after the slightest exertion Irritable weakness Burning pains. Burning relieved by heat Fear fright and worry Septic infections and low vitality Cannot bear the sight or smell of food Great thirst; drinks much, but little at a time Craves milk, acids and coffee Stool small, offensive, dark, with much prostration Urine scanty, burning, involuntary; albuminous Menses too profuse and too soon. Leucorrhœa, acrid, burning, offensive, thin Sleep disturbed, anxious, restless; must have head raised by pillows Suffocative fits during sleep Sleeps with hands over head Dreams are full of care and fear |
Wet weather After midnight From cold, cold drinks, or food Seashore Right side |
From heat From head elevated Warm drinks |
| Dulcamara | Hot days and cold nights towards the close of
summer are especially favorable to the action of Dulcamara Results from sitting on cold, damp ground Icy coldness Patients living or working in damp, cold basements Aversion to food Burning thirst for cold drinks Must urinate when getting chilled |
At night From cold in general Damp, rainy weather |
From moving about External warmth |
| Sulphur | Inertia and relaxation of fiber; hence feebleness
of tone characterizes its symptoms Ebullitions of heat, dislike of water, dry and hard hair and skin, red orifices, sinking feeling at stomach about 11 am, and cat-nap sleep Dirty, filthy people, prone to skin affections Aversion to being washed When carefully-selected remedies fail to act, especially in acute diseases, Complaints that relapse General offensive character of discharge and exhalations Putrid eructation Food tastes too salty Drinks much, eats little Milk disagrees Great desire for sweets Great acidity, sour eructation Very weak and faint about 11 am; must have something to eat Frequent micturition, especially at night Must hurry, sudden call to urinate Great quantities of colorless urine Menses too late, short, scanty, and difficult; thick, black, acrid, making parts sore. Leucorrhœa, burning, excoriating Talks, jerks, and twitches during sleep Vivid dreams Wakes up singing Wakes frequently, and becomes wide awake suddenly Catnaps; slightest noise awakens Cannot sleep between 2 an 5 am |
At rest When standing Warmth in bed Washing Bathing In morning 11 am Night From alcoholic stimulants Periodically |
Dry, warm weather Lying on right side From drawing up affected limbs |
| Calcarea Carbonica | Increased local and general perspiration Gets out of breath easily A jaded state, mental or physical, due to overwork Easy relapses, interrupted convalescence Great sensitiveness to cold; partial sweats Children crave eggs and eat dirt and other indigestible things; are prone to diarrhœa Calcarea patient is fat, fair, flabby and perspiring and cold, damp and sour Aversion to meat, boiled things; craving for indigestible things-chalk, coal, pencils; also for eggs, salt and sweets Milk disagrees Frequent sour eructations; sour vomiting Dislike of fat Loss of appetite when overworked Heartburn and loud belching Ravenous hunger. Repugnance to hot food Thirst; longing for cold drinks Frequent emissions; increased desire; semen emitted too soon Coition followed by weakness and irritability Menses too early, too profuse, too long, with vertigo, toothache and cold, damp feet; the least excitement causes their return Leucorrhœa, milky Ideas crowding in her mind prevent sleep; horrid visions when opening eyes; starts at every noise; fears that she will go crazy Drowsy in early part of evening Frequent waking at night Same disagreeable idea always arouses from light slumber Night terrors Dreams of the dead |
From exertion, mental or physical Ascending Cold in every form Water, washing, moist air, wet weather During full moon Standing While eating |
Dry climate and weather Lying on painful side |
| Graphites | Especially active in patients who are rather stout,
of fair complexion, with tendency to skin affections and constipation,
fat, chilly, and costive, with delayed menstrual history, take cold
easily Children impudent, teasing, laugh at reprimands Has a particular tendency to develop the skin phase of internal disorders Tendency to obesity Gushing leucorrhœa Induration of tissue Breath smells like urine Sour eructations Aversion to meat Sweets nauseate Hot drinks disagree Eructation difficult Flatulence Urine turbid, with sediment; sour smelling Menses too late, with constipation; pale and scanty, with tearing pain in epigastrium, and itching before. Leucorrhœa, pale, thin, profuse, white, excoriating, with great weakness in back Sexual debility, with increased desire; aversion to coition Skin rough, hard, persistent dryness of portions of skin unaffected by eczema |
Warmth At night During and after menstruation |
In the dark From wrapping up |
| Phosphorus | Tall, slender persons, narrow chested, with thin,
transparent skin, weakened by loss of animal fluids, with great nervous
debility, emaciation, amative tendencies Great susceptibility to external impressions, to light, sound, odors, touch, electrical changes, thunder-storms Suddenness of symptoms, sudden prostration, faints, sweats, shooting pains, etc Thirst for very cold water Hunger soon after eating Sour taste and sour eructations after every meal Belching large quantities of wind, after eating Stool very fetid stools and flatus; long, narrow, hard, like a dog's; difficult to expel Lack of power; irresistible desire; involuntary emissions, with lascivious dreams Menses too early and scanty-not profuse, but last too long Weeps before menses Leucorrhœa profuse, smarting, corrosive, instead of menses Great drowsiness, especially after meals Vivid dreams of fire; of hæmorrhage Lascivious dreams Goes to sleep late and awakens weak Short naps and frequent wakings |
Touch Physical or mental exertion Twilight Warm food or drink Change of weather From getting wet in hot weather Evening Lying on left or painful side During a thunder-storm Ascending stairs |
In dark Lying on right side Cold food Cold Open air Washing with cold water Sleep |
| Thuja | Hydrogenoid constitutions, whose blood is
morbidly hydroscopic, so that damp air and water are inimical. Rapid exhaustion and emaciation Chilly Complete loss of appetite Dislike for fresh meat and potatoes Rancid eructations after fat food Cannot eat onions Urinary stream split and small Sensation of trickling after urinating Desire to urinate sudden and urgent, but cannot be controlled Profuse leucorrhœa; thick, greenish. Menses scanty, retarded |
At night From heat of bed At 3 am and 3 pm From cold, damp air After breakfast Fat Coffee Vaccination |
Left side While drawing up a limb |
| Ammonium Carbonicum | Suits rather stout women who are always tired and
weary, take cold easily, suffer from cholera-like symptoms before menses,
lead a sedentary life, have a slow reaction generally, and are disposed to
frequent use of the smelling-bottle Fat patients with weak heart, wheezing, feel suffocated Very sensitive to cold air Great aversion to water; cannot bear to touch it Heaviness in all organs Uncleanness in bodily habits Acid secretions Prostration from trifles Great appetite, but easily satisfied Stools difficult, hard, and knotty Frequent desire to urinate; involuntary at night Erection without desire Leucorrhœa burning, acrid, watery Aversion to the other sex Menses too frequent, profuse, early, copious, clotted, black; colicky pains, and hard, difficult stool, with fatigue, especially of thighs; yawning and chilliness Sleepiness during the day; starts from sleep strangling |
Evenings From cold, wet weather Wet applications Washing During 3 to 4 am During menses |
Lying on painful side and on stomach In dry weather |
| Borax | Salivation Dread of downward motion Leucorrhœa like white of eggs, with sensation as if warm water was flowing Menses too soon, profuse, with griping, nausea and pain in stomach extending into small of back Voluptuous dreams Cannot sleep on account of heat, especially in head Cries out of sleep as if frightened |
Downward motion Noise Smoking Warm weather After menses |
Pressure Evening Cold weather |
| Kali Carbonicum | Soft pulse, coldness, general depression, and very
characteristic stitches Sensitive to every atmospheric change Intolerance of cold weather Fleshy aged people, with dropsical and paretic tendencies Sweat, backache, and weakness. "Giving-out" sensation Flatulence Desire for sweets Sour eructations Disgust for food Obliged to rise several times at night to urinate Deficient sexual instinct Excessive emissions, followed by weakness Drowsy after eating Wakes about two o'clock and cannot sleep again |
After coition In cold weather From soup and coffee In morning about three o'clock Lying on left and painful side |
In warm weather Though moist During day While moving about |
| Silicea | Increased susceptibility to nervous stimuli and
exaggerated reflexes Keloid growth Scrofulous, rachitic children, with large head open fontanelles and sutures, distended abdomen, slow in walking Ill effects of vaccination Suppurative processes Is cold, chilly, hugs the fire, wants plenty warm clothing, hates drafts, hands and feet cold, worse in winter Lack of vital heat Prostration of mind and body Great sensitiveness to taking cold Intolerance of alcoholic stimulants Want of grit, moral or physical Disgust for meat and warm food Want of appetite; thirst excessive Sour eructations after eating A milky, acrid leucorrhœa, during urination Discharge of blood between menstrual periods Increased menses, with paroxysms of icy coldness over whole body Sleeplessness, with great orgasm of blood and heat in head Frequent starts in sleep Anxious dreams |
New moon In morning From washing During menses Uncovering Lying down Damp Lying on left side Cold |
Warmth Wrapping up head Summer In wet or humid weather |