Spongia tosta
(Spongia tosta · Roasted sea sponge)
The remedy of the dry, barking cough. In the materia medica, Spongia is associated with a croupy cough that sounds like a saw going through wood, great dryness of the airways and waking with a sense of suffocation.
Source
Roasted marine sponge
Kingdom
Animal
Abbreviation
Spong.
Home acute kit
Usually prescribed by a homeopath
The classic picture
(a remedy is chosen when the whole picture fits the person, not from a single symptom)
Dry, barking, croupy cough, famously described as sounding like a saw driven through a pine board
Everything feels dry: throat, larynx and chest, with hoarseness and burning
Wakes suddenly around midnight feeling suffocated and frightened
Cough eases after eating or drinking, especially warm drinks
Tends to feel better
Warm food and drinks
Going downhill
Tends to feel worse
Before midnight
Dry, cold wind
Excitement
Sweets and cold drinks
How it compares
(remedies that are often confused with Spongia tosta)
-
Aconite
(Aconitum napellus)
Aconite's croup comes on suddenly with fear after a cold wind; Allen notes it is worse breathing out, Spongia's worse breathing in.
Read more -
Hepar sulphuris
(Hepar sulphuris calcareum)
Hepar's croup is looser and worse toward morning; Spongia's is bone-dry and worse before midnight.
Read moreCompare side by side -
Drosera
(Drosera rotundifolia)
Drosera's cough comes in deep, barking fits that end in retching; Spongia's is dry and sawing, eased by warm drinks.
Read more
Side-by-side comparisons
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From the classic texts
“Hoarseness; larynx dry, burns, constricted. Cough, dry, barking, croupy; larynx sensitive to touch. Croup; worse, during inspiration and before midnight.”
“Cough: dry, barking, croupy; rasping, ringing, wheezing, whistling; everything is perfectly dry, no mucous rale. Cough: dry, sibilant, like a saw driven through a pine board…”
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