From the cover:
The new remedy Cola belongs to the group of drug remedies. Drugs are often used to hiegten or expand perception, to enable the user to cross boundaries which Nature has set to the human powers of perception. The drugs cannabis, coca ("sacred plant of the Incas"), cola ("food of the gods") and peyote ("flesh of God") are seen as "divine substances" which create a link with the gods and spirits.
This full hahnemannian proving with 23 participants revealed feelings of invincibility, the idea of being able to carry the whole world on one's shoulders, or being able to see through the material person into the innnermost being or read a person's thoughts, ie mainly divine qualities and abilities which the provers ascribe to themselves, thus demonstrating a delusion of grandeur.
Insatiability is a central idea of the remedy ("I am like a bottomless pit"). The new remedy shows an effect in eating disorders (Insatiability and fear of being poisoned), mania and hyperactivity, disturbances of sugar metabolism, gastrointestinal illnesses with diarrhoea, problems with self-confidence, depression, sleepiness (fatigue), anxiety dreams and migraine. In Cola patients I have found a history of drug-taking with heroin, LSD and cocaine, a history of dipsomania or food abuse with others.
Bernd Schuster is a classical homoeopath and psychologist. With Bamboo he added an important remedy to the homoeopathic Materia Medica. Cola is his second homoeopathic proving.
- Author: Bernd Schuster
- ISBN: 398059582X
- 305 pages
- Paperback
- Printed in Germany
Homeopathic Proving of Cola Nitida By Bernd Schuster Reviewed by Terje Wulfsberg
As an introduction to this review, it is appropriate to quote from Kent's Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica under Capsicum, page 320: "Most of the substances that are used on the table as seasonings in food will in course of a generation or two be very useful medicines, because people poison themselves with these substances, tea, coffee, pepper, and these poisoning effects in the parents cause in the children a predisposition to disease, which is similar to the disease produced by these substances."
This is Bernd Schuster's second book. The first was an equally in depth proving and description of Bambusa - Bamboo. With this important book a new and valuable homeopathic remedy, well suited to modem times, is added to our materia medica; a remedy that I believe will become a polychrest. Cola is one of the ingredients of Coca Cola, which is, of course, consumed by millions on a regular basis. A member of the same family as the cocoa bean, Cola has been used for hundreds of years for its stimulating effect.
The book provides a thorough discussion of Cola nitida - its chemistry, pharmacology, and popular use throughout history. The proving of Cola nitida is very thorough. Twenty-three provers took active substance. The proving was done using a Q3, Q6 and Q12 Dilution, once a day one drop in a glass of water. To minimize wrong locations in the proving a body-location map with 89 numbers for all parts of the body were used. In order to minimize possible errors, initially there was an empty remedy phase of 2 weeks. During this period all the participants were given placebo. In this way the supervisor was able to ascertain their feelings, thoughts and what for them were the topics of today when they thought they were under influence of the remedy. The empty remedy vial had exactly the same look and smell as those containing the proving substance. Schuster also calls this phase the copying phase since he has observed that a placebo bottle can be influenced by the active substance if the vials are stored together. Of course, various precautions were taken to avoid this, but since it to some degree was considered inevitable, the symptoms produced in the copying phase (phase 1, placebo phase) were also included, but separately.
Schuster also knew all the provers as to their reliability and trustworthiness, having been participants in his regular homeopathy seminars. Each participant had to write each symptom in a special diary and had to note whether it was a persistent symptom(PS), a new(NS), and old(OS), an altered(AS) or an unusual symptom(US). There were 18 women and 5 men, but this was balanced somewhat by the fact that two of the male participants noted a lot of symptoms.
Cola nitida is represented in the repertory with the term Kola. The book gives a detailed description of the procedure of the proving, a comparison between Kola and other remedies made from drugs, the proving information in materia medica format, a listing of rubrics and a description of five cured cases. The book also compares Kola with other remedies made from trees, including Aesculus, Crataegus, Hamamelis, Nux vomica, Sabina, and Thuja.
Cola is related to other drug remedies. Typically, narcotics gives the "prover" a feeling of elation and well-being, which later is followed by the opposite, a feeling of being down and having a lack of energy. In my own experience with patients needing drug remedies, one or the other of these dual aspects will be predominate. In the active aspect of the symptom picture of Cola nitida, there is the feeling of strength, of being invincible, of being able to carry the burden of the world's problems on one's shoulders, together with a feeling of being able to look through people, read their thoughts and innermost motives. The other aspect of the remedy, as indicated by the proving, includes feelings of lethargy, mental weakness and problems in remembering words. Also dullness, lack of self-confidence, indifference and depression were noted. Several of the provers developed an enormous craving for food and a never satisfied feeling. The precise symptom felt by the prover was "a feeling of having a hole in the stomach that cannot be filled". The proving also indicated a corresponding feeling of not being fulfilled, and a forsaken feeling, which is compensated for by eating. Thus insatiability is a strong theme of this remedy. Clinically, Kola has been found to be of value in bulimia. Patients who compensate their emotional needs with food, will also be prone to substance abuse, drugs and, alcohol. Cola nitida - a substance that can produce dependency, may be a possible homeopathic remedy for individuals addicted to drugs, food, etc.
Another sphere of indication for Kola in its restless, active aspect is in ADD - hyperactive children who are overconfident and dictatorial, with exaggerated ideas about their abilities and capacity. I now have three cases that are doing very well on Kola: The first is a case of a woman suffering with bulimia and depression. The second is a young man with memory problems and restlessness who as a child was diagnosed with ADD and treated throughout his school years with Ritalin. As a boy, this man had exaggerated grandiose ideas; among other things he dreamt of building an airport in his garden! The third case is a woman who complained of great fatigue - a bum-out syndrome. She had the great Kola characteristic of insatiability. She said, "No matter how much coffee I drink, no matter how much I eat or smoke, I never feel satisfied and no matter how much I sleep I never feel rested. I can eat and eat and never feel full." Instead of having the feeling of having a hole in her stomach, this woman felt as if all her energy was sucked out of her through a black hole in her back! For those wishing a deeper understanding of this new and very promising remedy, I give Bernd Schuster's book my warmest recommendation.
More information, excerpts from the proving, reviews etc: http://www.verlag-fuer-homoeopathie.de
