Know Your Remedies: Agaricus Muscarius (Agar.)

Common Names: Agaricus mushroom; Fly agaric fungus

General Information

Agaricus is a remedy for twitches, jerks, tics, cramps, spasms, and even types of neurodegenerative disorders and convulsions. Movements are likely to be Involuntary, exaggerated and awkward. Symptoms worsen before thunderstorms and after sexual intercourse. The person will be anxious about their own health and fear cancer but will happily be near or help other sick people. They often complain of being chilly and are sensitive to cold air. Children will develop slowly and have delayed milestones of walking and talking. They will also be hyperactive, clumsy and lack awareness of danger.

Mental-Emotional Symptoms

• Dullness of mind, laziness and lack of motivation in the morning.
• Anxiety about health with an extreme fear of cancer.
• Excited and ecstatic states.
• Clumsy awkward children who are fearless of climbing, running, etc. ‘Dare-devils’.
• Restlessness with poor focus or comprehension.

Eye

• Spasms or twitching of eyelids.
• Involuntary movement of eyes – like a pendulum.

Face

• Twitching or spasms of face. Grimaces.
• Types of Bell’s palsy.

Skin

• Burning and itching of skin – as if frostbitten.
• Sensation of hot or icy cold needles sticking into skin.

Limbs

• Clumsiness and awkwardness. Ataxia.
• Twitching or trembling of muscles.

Back

• Severe low back pain and sciatica.
• Back pain worsened by sitting and improved when lying.

Where do I find it?

Agaricus muscarius (Agar.) is available from our online store as a single remedy, and as part of the following Complex (combination remedy): Chilblains.

Important

While above self-limiting or acute complaints are suitable for home treatment also contact your healthcare provider during emergency situations or if symptoms worsen or fail to improve. Chronic or persistent complaints, which may or may not be mentioned above, require a different treatment and dosage protocol so are best managed by a qualified homeopath for good results.

Dosage Instructions (suitable for babies to adults)

For the home treatment of acute and self-limiting complaints take one pill or five drops of the remedy every 1 minute to 4 hours (1 minute for intense or emergency symptoms (plus seek emergency help), 4 hours for milder ones). Once an improvement is noticed, stop dosing and repeat the remedy only if symptoms return. If there is no improvement at all by three doses, choose a different remedy or seek professional guidance.

Note: Chronic symptoms or complaints require a course of professional treatment by a qualified homeopath to manage the changes in potencies and remedies that may be required.

More Information

Guidelines on which potency to use

From Past Masters

Homeopathy is a 200-year system of medicine. Early medical homeopaths recorded initial provings, remedy relationships, and their early experiences with each remedy in great detail.

These writings were then shared with others to advance homeopathic knowledge and practice.

Today, these same writings give a fascinating insight into the symptoms and clinical conditions for which each remedy was used.

The following extract, with minor editing, is one example.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics by E. B. NASH M.D.

Agaricus muscarius (Agar.)

Ears, face, nose and skin in general, red and itch as if from chilblains.

Twitching in eyelids (especially), face, extremities, even choreaic jerkings, which cease during sleep.

Spinal column painful and sensitive to touch, aching extending into the lower limbs.

* * * * *

Agaricus has some very characteristic skin symptoms. “Ears, face, nose, toes and skin in general are affected with a redness, itching and burning as of from being frozen.” This is a very valuable symptom and may lead to the choice of this drug in many very different diseases.

I have used the remedy a good many years with very gratifying results for chilblains. I always use it internally in the 200th.

It is also a remedy of first importance for twitchings, from simple twitching in face, eyelids (especially) and extremities, to severe cases of chorea. In the latter disease the twitchings cease during sleep. Again it has been found useful in spinal irritation.

The symptoms indicating it here are best given in Allen’s Encyclopaedia.

No doubt this remedy has been over proven, and as a consequence many of its recorded symptoms are unreliable. The best work that can be done with it now is to separate them, if possible, “proving all things and holding fast that which is true.”