Cuprum metallicum, or copper, is a prominent remedy in homeopathy, primarily characterized by spasmodic affections, cramps, and convulsions.

Its indications often involve violence in symptoms and a tendency for symptoms to appear periodically and in groups.

Here are the bedside indications for Cuprum metallicum:

Table of Contents

1. General Appearance and Physical State:

Icy coldness of the whole body, or intense coldness of the surface, especially hands, feet, and extremities.
Blueness or bluish-red discoloration of the skin, face, lips, and nails (cyanosis). The skin may also be described as bluish, marbled, or bloated.
Cold, clammy, viscid sweat, especially on the forehead, during collapse.
A dull, coppery, pale, sallow, earthy, or brownish complexion.
Great prostration and lassitude, often described as a “deathly feeling”.
Emaciation.
A tense, cramped attitude and body posture.
Weakness of muscles and relaxation of the body when convulsions are not present.

2. Muscular and Nervous System (Keynote Symptoms):

Violent cramps, convulsions, and spasms affecting almost any part of the body, from simple twitching to general contortions.
Spasms often begin in the fingers and toes and spread towards the center of the body.
Clenching of the thumbs across the palms of the hands is a very characteristic sign, often indicating an impending epileptic fit or general tension.
Muscles, particularly of calves and thighs, drawn up into visible knots.
Violent jerking, twitching, quivering, and trembling of muscles.
Epileptic fits with a shriek or cry preceding the attack, frothing at the mouth, rolling eyeballs, and often involuntary passage of urine and feces. Aura may begin in the knees and ascend.
Chorea with involuntary movements, sometimes brought on by fright, developing into general chorea, with silly behavior or violent hysterical symptoms.
Opisthotonos (arching of the trunk upwards).
Stiffness of limbs and body, jaws clenched.
Difficulty in stopping muscular responses, leading to exhaustion.

Delirium of a violent character, often with incoherent talking, attempts to bite bystanders or objects, shrieking, or bellowing like a calf. Patient may appear frightened or malicious.
Grinding of teeth.
Spasmodic distortion of the face, contracted features, blue lips. Risus sardonicus.
Eyes fixed, staring, sunken, glistening, turned upward, or rapidly rolling. Twitching of eyelids or blepharospasm.
Vertigo with tendency to fall forward, or giddiness accompanying many ailments.
Sensation as if cold water were poured over the head.
Head drawn backward.
Headache, especially over left eye, or a pressive headache ascending from nape to forehead. Violent, continuous headaches, aggravated by slightest pressure.
Crawling sensation in the vertex or top of the head.

Strong, metallic, slimy, or coppery taste in the mouth, with an increased flow of saliva. Taste may be bitter or sweet.
Constant protrusion and retraction of the tongue, like a snake.
Audible gurgling noise when drinking fluids down the oesophagus or throat, as if water were poured from a bottle.
Stammering or imperfect speech, hoarseness, or inability to speak due to spasms in throat muscles.
Contraction of jaws, with foam at mouth.
Ulceration and swelling of gums, sometimes with a greenish or purple seam.
Voice changes, sounds like “bellowing of a calf” or “croaking of frogs” or a “pressed sound like a baby”.

Extreme nausea, described as “greater than any other remedy”.
Violent, spasmodic vomiting, often described as “terrific”.
Vomiting is relieved by drinking cold water.
Vomited matters are usually bluish, greenish, or flaky, sometimes bloody or frothy.
Violent colic and abdominal spasms, often drawing the abdomen in, feeling like knife-thrusts or as if intestines were drawn into knots.
Abdomen may be tense, hot, tender to touch, hard as a stone or board, or contracted.
Diarrhea: watery, greenish, bloody, slimy, or flocculent/whey-like; often involuntary and profuse, with tenesmus and prostration. May alternate with constipation.
Hiccough, often preceding spasms or vomiting.
Craves cool drinks. Aversion to milk.

Intense dyspnoea, often suffocative attacks, cannot bear anything near the mouth or face.
Spasmodic coughs, especially whooping cough, which are long-lasting, suffocating, and cause the face to turn blue/purple, often with vomiting of mucus or food.
Cough is ameliorated by drinking cold water.
Rattling in the chest with cough, or when awake.
Asthmatic attacks, often spasmodic and occurring around 3 a.m.. These often appear to originate from nervous spasm rather than inflammation.
Spasmodic constriction of the chest, sometimes feeling like a knife transfixing to the back, which can take away the breath and voice.

Scantiness or complete suppression of urine, sometimes leading to uraemic convulsions.
Menses may be too early, too profuse (dark, clotted, stringy blood), or scanty/irregular/painful.
Violent cramps during painful menstruation, extending into the chest, before, during, or after suppression of menses.
Puerperal convulsions or after-pains, especially with cramps in calves and soles.
Cramps may prevent coition in men who are prematurely old or have been abstinent, forcing them to moan.

Maliciousness, desire to injure, rage, or furor; may bite and strike others, or make fun of them.
Fear, especially of being approached by others, of strangers, or of imaginary persecutors.
Great sense of guilt, often without a clear reason, or stemming from past thoughts/fantasies.
Restlessness and tossing about, often with great anxiety.
“Cramped intellect”: slow in grasping and comprehending, repeatedly asking for clarification (“What did you say?”).
Intense emotions followed by intense suppression, leading to violent cramps or outbursts.
A “serious” disposition, arising from an inability to let go.
Alternation of gaiety and depression.
Bodily and mental exhaustion from over-exertion of mind or loss of sleep.
A “short circuit” spasm can occur when a self-critical or disagreeable idea (which the intellect cannot process) immediately manifests as a physical jerk, grimace, or convulsion.
The look on the face can be a mixture of seriousness and anger, or even frightening.

Aggravation: Contact, vomiting, at night, before menstruation, 3 a.m. (cough/asthma), cold air/wind, hot weather, new moon, movement, touch, from repercussed eruptions, during pregnancy, loss of sleep, suppressed foot-sweat.
Amelioration: Drinking cold water (vomiting, cough, spasms, colic), perspiration, mesmerism, pressure (for abdominal pains), lying down (for some spasmodic symptoms).