Cassia fistula - A multicentric clinical verification study

Abstract

Objectives: The primary objective was to clinically verify the symptomatology of Cassia fistula as observed during its proving conducted by the Council earlier. The secondary objective was to ascertain the clinical symptoms. Methods: In this multicentre study, a total of 129 patients from all age groups and of both sexes were drawn from the OPDs of respective institutes and units of the Council, following the inclusion and exclusion criteria as per protocol and obtaining the written consent from the patients. Their presenting signs and symptoms were recorded in a predefined case recording proforma. Special attention was paid to the circumstances of appearance of symptoms and all the physical/ mental generalsas per the homoeopathic point of view. Thereafter, on repertorizing the symptoms, if Cassia fistula was found to be the nearest similimum for the enrolled cases, it was prescribed in different potencies like 6C, 30C and 200C in ascending order, according to the need of the case and following homoeopathic principles. The progress was noted in follow up sheets to determine the effect of the medicine. Result: It was found that many of the symptoms of the proving of the drug conducted by the Council were found to be present in the patients, which were removed subsequently by the administration of the remedy and thus verified clinically. Apart from these, some additional clinical symptoms also emerged during the study, exploring the wider area of the medicine for its therapeutic use. Conclusion: Cassia fistula may be considered as a remedy for various clinical conditions like anorexia, confusion, constipation, coryza, earache, fever, headache, lethargy, nasal obstruction, pain in abdomen, sneezing, sleeplessness, stiffness of joints, arthritis, cervical pain, tonsillitis and weakness etc. The symptoms of drug proving were also amply verified by this study and the clinical symptoms revealed in the study have widened its scope for use in various therapeutic conditions.