Opium

Afiyun (Unani)
Aiphena (Ayurveda)
Ya Pian (TCM)
 Picture
Picture Icones Plantarum Medcio-oeconomico, Vietz, 1800–1806

Picture Original packaging of Opium imported from Turkey
A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, Sayre, 1907

Botanical name:


Papaver somniferum

Parts used:


Opium is the drops which come after cutting the immature Seed-capsule of the Poppy; Meconium is the expressed juice, usually of the whole Plant; this latter was most common in Europe into the 17th century.

Temperature & Taste:


Cold, dry. Bitter
“Opium is Cold and Dry in Fourth degree”. (Avicenna)
The ancients said it was Cold, as it is Narcotic and dulling; the more modern writers (of the 17th cent.) often said Warm.

Classifications:


2I. ANTISPASMODICS.    2R. NARCOTICS & HYPNOTICS
4k. ARTHRITIC
Stop Cough and Wheezing

Uses:


1. Strongly Stops Pain:
-Primarily used to ease severe pain and promote rest.

2. Calms the Mind, Promotes Rest:
-‘composes unquiet Spirits, makes the animal faculty dull, causes Sleep and unsensibleness, very comfortable in Watchings and strong Pains’.
-good for the restlessness, anxiety and fear associated with chronic pain

3. Stops Cough:
-settles severe and chronic Cough

4. Astringes to Stop Leakage:
-Sometimes added to astringent formulas


Dose:


15–30mg (quarter–half grain), increased as needed
“The dose is equal to the weight of a big grain of lentil”. (Avicenna)

Correctives:


1. Saffron
2. Cinnamon

Preparation:


1. Washed Opium:
  Steeping Opium in cold water for 5–6 hours, then straining and drying reduces toxicity.
2. Stir-fried Opium:
  “Opium is fried on hot iron plate till it becomes red” (Avicenna)
3. Ginger-prepared Opium:
  Opium can be triturated with Ginger juice to remove toxicity. According to some texts, this is repeated up to 21 times.
4. Milk-prepared Opium:
  Dissolve Opium in pure water and filter, then add Cow’s Milk and heat gently into a plastic mass. Spread out into a bowl and cover with Ginger juice and allow to evaporate naturally. Repeat six more times with fresh Ginger juice. Thus, the Opium is prepared. (Bhaishajyratnavali, an Ayurvedic text)

Substitutes:


1. The dehydrated decoction (or extract) of the whole Poppy plant may be used in place of Opium.
2. Lettuce Opium (concreted juice of Wild Lettuce) is the most effective, legal option, having similar effects but being milder than Opium. The evaporated long decoction of the whole plant of Wild Lettuce may also be used.
3. It has been stated that tincture of Datura (1:8) taken in 20 drops doses is equal to 1 grain of Opium
4. In some cases, Poppy seed may replace Opium.
5. “Henbane seeds three times of the quantity of Opium and double quantity of Mandrake seeds are its substitutes”. (Avicenna)

Main Combinations:


1. Spasmodic Cough, Whooping Cough:
i. Opium with Almond emulsion, Syrup of Marshmallow
ii. Opium with Jujubes, Raisins, Maidenhair, Licorice (Memorial Pharmaceutique, 1824)
iii. Opium with Storax, Saffron, Licorice, Myrrh (Pharmacopoeia medici practici universalis, Bruxelles, 1817)
iv. Opium with Storax, Licorice, Olibanum, Benzoin, Mastic, Saffron (Dispensatorium Pharmaceuticum, 1777)
v. Aniseed (8 drams), Storax, Opium (6 drams each), boild Honey (sufficient). Mix well. The dose is a piece the size of a bean. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“, trans. by Wallis Budge, 1913)
2. Asthma, Opium with Anise oil, Camphor, Benzoic acid in Spirit (as in Compound Tincture of Camphor)
3. Severe Colic and spasmodic Pain:
i. Opium with Peppermint, Camomile
ii. Opium with Zedoary, Calamus, Orange peel, Lemon peel, Aniseed, Caraway, Camomile, Clove, Juniper (as in Anti-Colic Tincture of Pharmacopoeia Hispana, 1798)
4. Spasmodic conditions of the Urinary organs, Opium with Troches of Winter Cherry, Licorice, Venice Turpentine, Camphor, Saffron, Gum Tragacanth, Mastic (as in Glycrrhized Extract of Opium, from Pharmacopoeia Hispana, 1798)
5. Dysentery, Opium with Catechu, Bistort, Angelica, Calamus, Tormentil, Zedoary, Pomegranate bark, Rose, Saffron, Myrrh, Rhubarb (as in Anti-Dysenteric Pills from Pharmacopoeia Lusitana, 1711)
6. Oriental Pills: Opium, Saffron, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Lesser Cardamon (equal parts), Syrup of Orange flowers sufficient to form pills of 3 grains. Dose: 2–3 pills in the evening. (Formulaire Magistral et Memorial Pharmaceutique, 1823)
7. Topically for Spasmodic pain, Opium with Camphor in Spirit.
8. Foul Cancerous sores: Pulp of Carrots, Powdered Hemlock, Sydenham’s Laudanum
9. Anti-Cancer Balsam: Opium (24 grains), acetate of Lead (4 oz.), Camphor (1 dram), Spirit of Turpentine (12 oz.). Digest for 2 days and strain. (Formulaire de Montpellier, 1822)
10. Painful Hemorrhoids, Opium with Ungent Populeon and calcined Oyster shells (Memorial Pharmaceutique, 1824)
11. Painful Tumors, Wounds, Excoriations, Pustules, Opium with Rhubarb in cerate (ie. an ointment base).
12. Painful Tooth caries, Opium with Belladonna extract, Camphor, Clove oil; make a paste and apply

Formulas
Philonium Romanum Galenii
Philonium Persicum
Philonium Romanum (Philonium Nicolai) (Nicholas)
Triphera Greater (Nicholas)
Requies (Nicholas)
Athanasia Greater Nicholas
Athanasia Greater (Unani)
Beautiful Anodyne Antidote
Letificans Electuary (Unani)
Confection for all Diseases of the Eyes
Expert Troches of Mahomet
Pills Proven for Coughs (Galen)
Expert Pills for Cough
Triangular Troches (Unani)
Tincture Producing Sleep
Jatiphaladi Vati (Nutmeg Pills) (Ayurveda)

Cautions:


1. Toxic in overdose, highly addictive and narcotic. Heavily regulated in most countries.
2. ‘it stops the Urine and stool, and causes cold Sweats, small Breath, and Alienation of Mind’. (Schroder)
3. ‘… for through the great coldness which Opium, and Hyoscyamus, and Mandragora root possess, they kill the natural heat of the ordinary member of the body, and bring the sick man into great and inconceivable peril’. (Syrian ‘Book of Medicine‘, Budge, 1913)

Antidote
1. Castoreum (Avicenna; De venenis, Petrus, 1487) “which some call Bezoar and Theriacum of Opium” (De venenis, Ramesey, 1663)
2. Rue and Oregano

Main Preparations used:


Various Extracts and Laudanums were prepared; also various Syrups including Meconium.

1. Tincture of Opium:
i. Opium in powder (2 ½ oz.), Proof Spirit (2 pints). Macerate 14 days, strain. (London)

1. Sydenham’s Laudanum:
i. Opium (1 oz.), Saffron (½ ounce), Cinnamon (1 dram), Malaga Wine (9 oz.). Digest 3 days, strain. (Dispensarium Lippiacum, 1792)
ii. Opium (2 oz.), Saffron (1 oz.), Cinnamon (2 drams), Alcohol (3 oz.), Spanish Wine (1 lb.). Digest several days, express, filter.
iii. Saffron (½ oz.), Cinnamon, Clove (1 dram each), Spanish Wine (8 oz.). Digest 3 days, dissolve in the strained liquor Opium (1 oz.). Filter after 24 hours digestion, pour upon the residue Spanish Wine (4 oz.). Digest, express strongly, filter. Mix with the preceding.
Use in Cancer:
‘Dr. Herbert Snow, resident physician at the Brompton Cancer Hospital, says (1895) he has found : “after long experience, Opium exhibits a strong inhibitive influence on the cancer elements, retarding and checking the cell growth, which is a main feature of the disease. Even when no surgical operation has been performed.
 Opium is the only drug which markedly checks cancer growth: and the early employment of this medicine will usually add years of comfortable life to the otherwise shortened space of the sufferer’s existence.” (Herbal Simples, Fernie, 1897)