Chronic rheumatoid arthritis treated with TCM nux vomica

What is nux vomica(Ma Qian Zi)?
Medicinally it mainly refers to the mature seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica, which is a plant in the family Loganiaceae. So, other names include poison nut, Nux-Vomica Seeds, Semen Strychni, strychni semen, Quaker buttons, Strychnos Seed, Semen Strychni Nux-vomicae, and so on. The former one is mainly cultivated or uncultivated in India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and other places. It is usually harvested in winter when the fruits are ripe. After then it needs to remove the flesh, take the seeds, dry in the sun, and process in order to reduce toxic.

Nux vomica plant is a tree, 10 to 13 meters in height. Gray bark is with lenticels. Branches are smooth. Leaves are opposite; petiole length is from 5 to 12mm; leaf blade is leathery, smooth, hairless, broad ovate or oblong, 6 to 15cm long, 3 to 9cm wide, and with acute or slightly concave apex, broad cuneate or rounded base, and entire margin; leaf axils are with short tendrils. Conical cymes are axillary, pubescent, 3 to 5cm, and 2.5 to 5cm in diameter; both bracts and bracteoles are small, triangular, pubescent, and with acute apex; flowers are white and almost sessile; calyx is green, 5-lobed at the tip, and densely pubescent; corolla is tubular and with 5 lobed apex. The lobes are ovate and densely pubescent inside; stamens are 5; pistil is 9.5 to 12mm in length. Berry is spherical, 2 to 4cm in diameter, green when young and orange when ripe, and with smooth surface. Seeds are 1 to 4, disc-shaped, 1 to 3cm in diameter, and with greyish yellow surface that is densely covered with silvery hair. Flowering time is in spring and summer and fruit season is from August to following January.

Nux vomica benefits
As previously mentioned, this poisonous herb can be also a good medicine for some life-threatening illnesses. (1) The plaster, composed of semen strychni 1g, camphor powder 0.3g, and white wax 4g, can be used for the Facial Paralysis treatment. The common usage is to paste it on the nerve trunk area in front of the ear lobe in affected side, once every 4 days. Among the 100 cases, 98 cases were cured, and 2 cases were improved after 4 to 32 days of treatment. (2). After treated with Feng Tong San, made of equivalent semen strychni and Ma Huang (Ephedra), the relief was provided in 35 out of 58 cases of chronic Rheumatic Arthritis, 9 out of 16 cases of chronic Rheumatoid Arthritis, 3 out of 5 cases of chronic hypertrophic arthritis, and 13 out of 24 cases of general joint pain. (3). 100 cases of neurodermatitis were cured by the preparation of soaking semen strychni 3g and Mi Tuo Seng (lithargite) 3g in 200ml saponated cresol solution. (4). This herb can be also used for the treatment of tinea pedis and manuum (dermatophyte infections of the hands and feet), Trigeminal Neuralgia, Myasthenia Gravis, respiratory muscle paralysis, Chronic Bronchitis, schizophrenia, epilepsy, shoulder periarthritis, and so on.