Difference between Naja & lachesis on heart.

Difference between Naja and Lachesis on the Heart in Homoeopathy

Naja tripudians (Cobra venom) produces a sensation as if the heart were tightly grasped, clutched, or drawn together, with a constricted band around the precordium (1). The pain characteristically radiates from the heart down the left arm and shoulder (1, 2). Symptoms are aggravated by lying on the left side and by mental exertion, grief, or worry (1). It is most often indicated in valvular heart disease, endocarditis, and angina accompanied by marked mental gloom, where the patient has a profound sense of impending death and persistent suicidal ideation, yet fears death (1, 2).

Lachesis mutus (Bushmaster venom) also produces precordial constriction, but the dominant sensation is heat and burning, with marked intolerance of tight clothing around the chest and neck (1, 2). A distinguishing feature is that symptoms progress from left to right and are worse on falling asleep, on waking, and in warm weather or spring (1). Cardiac complaints are commonly seen at the climacteric, in menstrual disorders, and in patients with alcoholic or hemorrhoidal tendencies (1, 2). Mentally, the patient is loquacious, jealous, egotistical, and at times intensely religious (1, 2).

The key differentiator at the heart level is therefore: Naja = “heart is squeezed” in a depressed, suicidal patient; Lachesis = “heart is bursting” in a talkative, jealous patient who cannot bear pressure (1, 2).

References

1. Boericke W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel; 1927. p. 423–5, 391–3.
2. Clarke JH. A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica. Vol. 2. London: Homoeopathic Publishing Co.; 1900. p. 488–92, 1076–81.