Spongia is typically associated with acute respiratory infections and coughs, yet it is also used in a number of chronic conditions such as asthma, cardiac disorders, testicular diseases, and thyroid diseases.[rx]
Spongia officinalis was chemically investigated. This study resulted in the isolation of a series of sesterterpenes and C21 furanoterpenes, according to the literature data on this sponge. Four new oxidized minor metabolites (compounds 1, 2, 3, and 4) were isolated along with six known compounds of the furospongin series (compounds 5-8, 9, and 10) and three scalarane sesterterpenes (compounds 11-13). Interestingly, tetrahydrofurospongin-2 (6) and dihydrofurospongin-2 (7), which were among the main metabolites, induced biofilm formation by Escherichia coli. All compounds isolated were also assayed for antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Materia Medica of Spongia
- Mind – Irritable; holds everything in contempt. Full of desires, for what they know not.
- Head – Bones of the skull feel crushed or bruised. Pain extends to teeth and root of the tongue.
- Eyes – Inflamed, red. Pain through eyeballs. Profuse lachrymation. Cornea dim. Eyes tire from near vision. State of vision constantly changing. Spasm of accommodation from the irritable weakness of the ciliary muscle. Nausea from looking on moving objects.
- Face – Blue rings around eyes. Periodical orbital neuralgia, with lachrymation, photophobia, and smarting eyelids.
- Nose – Coryza, with stoppage of nose and nausea. Epistaxis.
- Stomach – Tongue usually clean. Mouth, moist; much saliva. Constant nausea and vomiting, with pale, twitching of face. Vomits food, bile, blood, mucus. Stomach feels relaxed as if hanging down. Hiccough.
- Abdomen – Amebic dysentery with tenesmus; while straining pain so great that it nauseates; little thirst. Cutting, clutching; worse, around the navel. Body rigid; stretched out stiff.
- Stools – Pitch-like green as grass, like frothy molasses, with griping at the navel. Dysenteric, slimy.
- Female – Uterine hæmorrhage, profuse, bright, gushing, with nausea. Vomiting during pregnancy. Pain from navel to the uterus. Menses too early and too profuse.
- Respiratory – Dyspnœa; constant constriction in chest. Asthma. Yearly attacks of difficult shortness of breathing. Continued sneezing; coryza; a wheezing cough. A cough incessant and violent, with every breath. Chest seems full of phlegm but does not yield to coughing. Bubbling rales. A suffocative cough; the child becomes stiff, and blue in the face. Whooping-cough, with a nosebleed, and from the mouth. Bleeding from lungs, with nausea; feeling of constriction; rattling cough. Croup. Hæmoptysis from slightest exertion (Millef). Hoarseness, especially at end of a cold. Complete aphonia.
- Fever – Intermittent fever, irregular cases, after Quinine. Slightest chill with much heat, nausea, vomiting, and dyspnœa. Relapses from improper diet.
- Sleep – With eyes half open. Shocks in all limbs on going to sleep (Ign).
- Extremities – Body stretched stiff, followed by spasmodic jerking of arms towards each other.
- Skin – Pale, lax. Blue around eyes. Military rash.
Uses/Indications of Spongia
- Cough, Burning in the chest, larynx, Sensitive to touch, Whistling breathing.
- Cough, rasping, crowing croupy sounds.
- Wheezing
- Shortness of breath
- Laryngitis (acute and chronic)
- Hoarseness with the sore, burning larynx. Tickling larynx. Dryness. Hawking constantly. Constriction of the larynx, worse at midnight or during sleep
- Thyroid Disorders
- Arrhythmia
- Asthma
- Bronchitis
- Aneurysm
- Angina pectoris
- Constipation
- Exophthalmos, Fainting. Goiter,
- Exophthalmic. Heart, hypertrophy
- Hernia
- Jaw-joint, pain in
- Laryngitis
- Myopia
- Rheumatic fever
- Rheumatism
- Tuberculosis
- Whooping-cough
Dosage of Spongia
- Adult and children 2 years of age and older – Dissolve 5 pellets under the tongue 3 times a day until relieved or as directed by a doctor.
References
