The Chronic
Diseases, their Peculiar Nature and their Homœopathic Cure.
by Dr Samuel Hahnemann
Presented By Médi-T
(Page 50 … 59)
If the cause must
at all times be proportionate to its effect and consequence, as is
the in nature, no one can see how, after the removal of the causes
assailing her health, the resulting ailments could not only
continue, but even increase from year to year, if their cause were
not in something else, something deeper, so those unhappy
occurrences (the miscarriage and the sad tidings), since they both
disappeared of themselves and therefore could not possibly yield a
sufficient ground for the ensuing chronic disease, can only be
regarded as the occasion, but not the efficient cause, of the
development of a hostile power of greater importance, pre-existent
in the internal organism but hitherto quiescent.
In a similar manner, a robust merchant, apparently healthy, despite
some traces of internal psora,
perceptible only to the professional examiner, may in consequence of
unlucky commercial conjunctures become involved in his finances,
even so as to approach bankruptcy, and at the same time he will fall
gradually into various ailments and finally into serious illness.
The death of a rich kinsman, however, and the gaining of a great
prize in a lottery, abundantly cover his commercial losses; he
becomes a man of means – but his illness, nevertheless, not only
continues but increases from year to year, despite all medical
prescriptions, in spite of his visiting the most famous baths, or
rather, perhaps, with the assistance of these two causes.
A modest girl, who, excepting some signs of internal psora,
was accounted quite healthy, was compelled into a marriage which
made her unhappy of soul, and in the same degree her bodily health
declined, without any trace of venereal infection. No allopathic
medicine alleviates her sad ailments, which continually grow more
threatening. But in the midst of this aggravation, after one year’s
suffering, the cause of her unhappiness, her hated husband, is taken
from her by death, and she seems to revive, in the conviction, that
she is now delivered from every occasion of mental or bodily
illness, and hopes for a speedy recovery; all her friends hope the
same for her, as the exciting cause of her illness lies in the
grave. She also improves speedily, but unexpectedly she still
remained an invalid, despite the vigor of her youth; yea, her
ailments but seldom leave her, and are renewed from time to time
without any external cause, and they are even aggravated from year
to year in the rough months.
A person who had been unjustly suspected and become involved in a
serious criminal suit, and who had before seemed healthy, with the
exception of the marks of latent psora
mentioned above, during these harassing months fell into various
diseased states. But finally the innocence of the accused is
acknowledged, and an honorable acquittal followed. We might suppose
that such a happy, gratifying event would necessarily give new life
to the accused and remove all bodily complaints. But this does not
take place, the person still at times suffers from these ailments,
and they are even renewed with longer or briefer intermissions, and
are aggravated with the passing years, especially in the wintry
seasons.
How shall we explain this? If that disagreeable event had been the
cause, the sufficient cause, of
these ailments, ought not the effect; i.e.,
the disease, to have entirely ceased of necessity, after the removal
of the cause? But these ailments do not cease, they are in time
renewed and even gradually aggravated, and it becomes evident that
those disagreeable events could not have been the sufficient cause
of the present ailments and complaints – it is seen that they only
served as an occasion and impetus toward the development, of a
malady, which till then only slumbered within.
The recognition of this old internal foe, which is so frequently
present, and the science which is able to overcome it, make it
manifest, that generally an indwelling itch (psora)
was the ground of all these ailments, which can not be overcome even
by the vigor of the best constitution, but only through art.But even if favorable
external conditions should again check the rapid development of a
disease that has broken out, true health can not be lastingly restored
by any of the modes of treatment hitherto known, and the customary
allopathic treatments, with their aggressive, inappropriate remedies
-such as baths, mercury, prussic acid, iodine, digitalis, quinine,
starvation and other fashionable remedies included- only hasten death,
the end of all those maladies which the physician cannot heal.When once, under the
above-mentioned unfavorable outward surroundings, the transition of
the psora from its slumbering and
bound condition to its awakening and outbreak has taken place, and the
patient leaves himself to the injurious activity of the usual
allopathic physician, who deems it appropriate to his office and his
income to mercilessly assault the organism of the patient (as we are
sorry to witness every day) with the battering-rams of his violent,
inappropriate remedies and weakening treatments; -in such a case, the
external circumstances of the patient and his situation with respect
to his surroundings may have changed ever so favorably, but the
aggravation of the disease nevertheless proceeds under such hands
without any escape.The awakening of the internal
psora which has hitherto slumbered
and been latent, and, as it were, kept bound by a good bodily
constitution and favorable external circumstances, as well as its
breaking out into more serious ailments and maladies, is announced by
the increase of the symptoms given above as indicating the slumbering
psora, and also by a numberless multitude of various other signs and
complaints. These are varied according to the difference in the bodily
constitution of a man, his hereditary disposition, the various errors
in his education and habits, his manner of living and diet, his
employments, his turn of mind, his morality, etc.Then when the itch-malady
develops into a manifest secondary disease there appear the following
symptoms, which I have derived and observed altogether from accounts
of diseases which I myself have treated successfully and which
confessedly originated from the contagion of itch, and were mixed
neither with syphilis nor sycosis.I am quite willing to believe
that many more symptoms may have occurred in the experience of others.I would only add further,
that among the symptoms adduced there are also such as are entirely
opposed to each other, the reason of which may be found in the varying
bodily constitutions existing at the time – when the outbreak of the
internal psora occurred. Yet the one variety of symptoms is found more
rarely than the other and it offers no particular obstruction to a
cure:Vertigo; reeling while
walking.Vertigo; when closing the
eyes, everything seems to turn around with him; he is at the same time
seized with nausea.Vertigo; on turning around
briskly, he almost falls over.Vertigo, as if there was a
jerk in the head, which causes a momentary loss of consciousness.Vertigo with frequent
eructations.Vertigo even when only
looking down on the level ground, or when looking upward.Vertigo while walking on a
road not enclosed on either side, in an open plain.Vertigo; she seems to herself
now too large, now too small, or other objects have this appearance to
her.Vertigo, resembling a swoon.
Vertigo, passing over into
unconsciousness.Dizziness; inability to think
or to perform mental labor.Her thoughts are not under
her control.She is at times quite without
thought (sits lost in thought).The open air causes dizziness
and drowsiness in the head.Everything at times seems
dark and black before his eyes, while walking or stooping, or when
raising himself from a stooping posture.Rush of blood to the head. [1]
Heat in the head (and in the
face). [2]A cold pressure on the top of
the head. [3]Headache, a dull pain in the
morning immediately on waking up, or in the afternoon when walking
rapidly or speaking loudly.Headache on one side, with a
certain periodicity (after 28, 14 or a less number of days), more
frequently during full moon, or during the new moon, or after mental
excitement, after a cold, etc.; a pressure or other pain on top of the
head or inside of it, or a boring pain over one of the eyes. [4]—–
[1]
While the mind is uneasy, with anxiety and disinclination to work.[2]
Not unfrequently accompanied with coldness of the hands and feet.[3]
Usually accompanied with anxiety.[4]
At the same time a great internal disquiet and anxiety, especially
in the abdomen; a lack of stools, or frequent, scanty evacuations
attended with anxiety; heaviness in the limbs, quivering in the
whole body, tension of all the nerves with great irritability and
sensitiveness; the eye can not bear any light, lachrymation,
sometimes with swelling of the eyes; the feet are cold; at times
attended with dry coryza; often chills, then again a flying heat;
conjoined with this, continuous nausea, also at times, retching and
vomiting; she lies either as if stunned, or throws herself anxiously
from side to side, the attacks lasting from twelve to twenty-four
and more hours. After these attacks either great weariness with
sadness, or a feeling of tension all over the body. Before these
attacks there are frequently jerks of the limbs during sleep and
starting up from sleep, anxious dreams, gnashing of the teeth in
sleep and tendency to start at any sudden noise.Headache daily at certain
hours; e.g., a stitching in the
temples. [1]Attacks of throbbing headache
(e.g., in the forehead) with
violent nausea as if about to sink down, or, also, vomiting; starting
early in the evenings, repeated every fortnight, or sooner or later.Headache as if the skull were
about to burst open. [2]Headache, drawing pains. [3]
Headache, stitches in the
head (passing out at the ears). [4]Roaring noise in the brain,
singing, buzzing, humming, thundering, etc.The scalp full of dandruff,
with or without itching.Eruption on the head, tinea
capitis, malignant tinea with crusts of greater or less thickness,
with sensitive stitches when one of the places becomes moist; when it
becomes moist a violent itching; the whole crown of the head painfully
sensitive to the open air; with it hard swellings of the glands in the
neck.The hair of the head as if
parched.The hair of the head
frequently falls out, most in front, on the crown and top of the head;
bald spots or beginning baldness of certain spots.Under the skin are formed
painful lumps, which come and pass away, like bumps and round tumors. [5]Feeling of contraction in the
skin of the scalp and the face.Paleness of the face during
the first sleep, with blue rings around the eyes.Frequent redness of the face,
and heat. [6]—–
[1]
Which also swell at times, with lachrymation of the one eye.[2]
In some cases a drawing pain from the nape of the neck toward the
occiput, at times also over the whole head and face, which is often
bloated from it, while the head aches when touched, not infrequently
attended with nausea.[3]
Usually while walking, especially while walking and moving after
meals.[4]
At the same time everything frequently appears dark before her face.[5]
Which also in rare cases pass over into suppuration.[6]
He at times also becomes quite weak and weary from it or anxious,
and he perspires on the upper part of the body; his eyes at times
become dim; everything becomes black before his eyes, his mind is
sad; his head also feels as if too full, with burning in the
temples.Yellowish, yellow color of
the face.Sallow yellowish complexion.
Erysipelas on the face. [1]
Pressive pain on the eyes,
especially late in the evening; he must shut them.He cannot look long at
anything, else everything flickers before him; objects seem to move.The eyelids, especially in
the morning, are as if closed; he cannot open them (for minutes; yea,
even for hours); the eyelids are heavy as if paralyzed or convulsively
closed.The eyes are most sensitive
to daylight; they are pained by it and close involuntarily. [2]Sensation of cold in the
eyes.The canthi are full of
pus-like mucus (eye-gum).The edges of the eyelids full
of dry mucus.On the edges of the eyelids,
inflammation of single Meibomian glands or of several of them.Inflammations of the eyes, of
various kinds. [3]Yellowness around the eyes.
Yellowness of the white of
the eye. [4]Dim, opaque spots on the
cornea. [5]Dropsy of the eye.
Obscuration of the
crystalline lens, cataract.Squinting.
Far-sightedness; he sees far
in the distance, but cannot clearly distinguish small objects held
close.Short-sightedness; he can see
even small objects by holding them close to the eye, but the more
distant the object is, the more indistinct it appears, and at a great
distance he does not see it.False vision; he sees objects
double, or manifold, or only the one-half of them.Before his eyes there are
floating as it were flies, or black points, or dark streaks, or
networks, especially when looking into bright daylight.The eyes seem to look through
a veil or a mist; the sight becomes dim at certain times.—–
[1]
In some cases with much fever, also at times with burning, itching,
stinging watery blisters in the face, which turn into scabs
(Erysipelas bullosum.)[2]
Usually with more or less inflammation.[3]
The fistula lachrymalis has
probably never any other cause than the itch-disease.[4]
Or grey color of the same.[5]
Even without having had any previous inflammation of the eyes.Night-blindness; he sees well
in daytime, but, in the twilight he cannot see at all.Blindness by day; he can only
see well during the twilight.Amaurosis; uninterrupted
dimness of vision [1]
increased finally even to blindness.Painfulness of various spots
in the face, the cheeks, the cheek-bones, the lower jaw, etc., when
touched; while chewing, as if festering inwardly; also like stitches
and jerks; especially in chewing there are jerks, stitches and a
tension so that he cannot eat. [2]The hearing is excessively
irritated and sensitive; she cannot bear to hear a bell ring without
trembling; he is thrown into convulsions by the beating of the drum,
etc.; many sounds cause pain in the ear.There are stitches in the
ear, outwardly. [3]Crawling sensation and
itching in the ear.Dryness in the ear; dry scabs
within, without any ear-wax.Running from the ear of thin,
usually ill-smelling pus.Pulsation in the ear.
Various sounds and noises in
the ear. [4]Deafness of various degrees
even up to total deafness, with or without noise in the ear;
occasionally worse, according to the weather.Swelling of the parotid
glands. [5]Epistaxis, more or less
profusely, more or less frequently.The nostrils as it were
stopped up. [6]Sensation of dryness in the
nose, troublesome even when the air passes freely.Polypi of the nose (usually
with the loss of the power of smelling); these may extend also through
the nasal passages into the fauces.Sense of smell, weak, lost.
—–
[1]
More frequently without opacity of the crystalline lens than with
it.[2]
During chewing or speaking there is at times also a similar
twitching on the sides of the head, where protuberances like painful
bumps often arise. When the pain is still more unbearable and at
times combined with a burning pain, it is called Fothergill’s pain
in the face.[3]
Especially while walking in the open air.[4]
Such as clinking, rushing, seething, roaring, humming, chirping,
ringing, drumming, thundering, whizzing, fluttering, murmuring, etc.[5]
Often with stinging pains in the glands.[6]
Either one or both, or alternately, first one, then the other; often
there is only the sensation of being stopped up, while the air can
be freely drawn in through it.Sense of smell perverted. [1]
Too violent sensation of
smell, higher and highest sensitiveness for even imperceptible odors.Scabs in the nose; discharge
of pus or hardened clots of mucus. [2]Fetid smell in the nose.
Nostrils frequently
ulcerated, surrounded with, pimples and scabs.Swelling and redness of the
nose or the tip of the nose, frequent or continual.Under the nose or on the
upper lip, long-lasting scabs or itching pimples.The red of the lips is quite
pale.The red of the lips is dry,
scabby, peeling off; it chaps.Swelling of the lips,
especially of the upper lip. [3]The inside of the lips is
lined with little sores or blisters. [4]Cutaneous eruption of the
beard and of the roots of the hairs of the beard, with itching.Eruptions of the face of
innumerable kinds. [5]Glands of the lower jaw
swollen, sometimes passing over into chronic suppuration.Glandular swellings down the
sides of the neck.Gums bleeding at a slight
touch.Gums, the external or the
internal, painful, as if from wounds.Gums, with erosive itching.
Gums, whitish, swollen,
painful on touching.Gums, recession, leaving the
front teeth and their roots bare.Gnashing of the teeth during
sleep.Looseness of the teeth, and
many kinds of deterioration of the teeth, even without toothache.Toothache of innumerable
varieties, with varying causes of excitation.She cannot remain in bed at
night, owing to toothacheOn the tongue, painful
blisters and sore places.Tongue white, coated white or
furred white.Tongue pale, bluish-white.
Tongue full of deep furrows;
here and there, as if torn above.Tongue dry.
Sensation of dryness on the
tongue, even while it is properly moist.—–
[1]
E.g., the smell of manure or
some other peculiar smell is in the nose.[2]
Sometimes also a discharge of acrid mucus from the nose.[3]
At times with a burning, biting pain.[4]
Often very painful, coming and passing away.[5]
Milk-crust, pimples, blotches, herpes and carcinomatous ulcers of
the nose, lips and face (also called cancer),
with burning and stinging pain.Stuttering, stammering; also
at times sudden attacks of inability to speak.On the inside of the cheeks
painful blisters or sores.Flow of blood from the mouth;
often severe.Sensation of dryness of the
whole internal mouth, or merely in spots, or deep down in the throat. [1]Fetid smell from the mouth.
Burning in the throat.
Constant flow of saliva,
especially while speaking, particularly in the morning.Continual spitting of saliva.
Frequent mucus deep down in
the throat (the fauces), which he has to hawk up and expectorate
frequently during the day, especially in the morning.Frequently inflammation of
the throat, and swelling of the parts used in swallowing.Insipid, slimy taste in the
mouth.Intolerably sweet taste in
the mouth, almost constantly.Bitter taste in the mouth,
mostly in the morning. [2]Sourish and sour taste in the
mouth, especially after eating, though the food tasted all right.
[3]Putrid and fetid taste in the
mouth.Bad smell in the mouth,
sometimes mouldy, sometimes putrid like old cheese, or like fetid
foot-sweat, or like rotten sour kraut.Eructations, with the taste
of the food, several hours after eating.Eructations, empty, loud, of
mere air, uncontrollable, often for hours, not infrequently at night.Incomplete eructation, which
causes merely convulsive shocks in the fauces, without coming out of
the mouth.Eructation, sour, either
fasting or after food, especially after milk.Eructation, which excites to
vomiting.Eructation, rancid
(especially after eating fat things).Eructation, putrid or mouldy,
early in the morning.Frequent eructations before
meals, with a sort of rabid hunger.Heartburn, more or less
frequent; there is a burning along the chest, especially after
breakfast, or while moving the body.—–
[1]
Chiefly on waking up at night or in the morning, with or without
thirst; with a great deal of dryness in the throat, often a pricking
pain in swallowing.[2]
Not rarely, this is constant.[3]
Rarely an offensively sweet taste in the mouth, even without eating
or drinking.Water-brash, a gushing
discharge of a sort of salivary fluid from the stomach, preceded by
writhing pains in the stomach (the pancreas), with a sensation of
weakness (shakiness), nausea causing as it were a swoon, and gathering
of the saliva in the mouth, even at night. [1]The ruling complaints in any
part of the body are excited after eating fresh fruit, especially if
this is acidulous, also after acetic acid (in salads, etc.).Nausea early in the morning. [2]
Nausea even to vomiting, in
the morning immediately after rising from bed, decreasing from motion.Nausea always after eating
fatty things or milk.Vomiting of blood.
Hiccough after eating or
drinking.Swallowing impeded by spasms,
even causing a man to die of hunger.Spasmodic, involuntary
swallowing.Frequent sensation of fasting
and of emptiness in the stomach (or abdomen), not unfrequently with
much saliva in the mouth.Ravenous hunger (canine
hunger), especially early in the morning; he has to eat at once else
he grows faint, exhausted and shaky, (or if he is in the open air he
has to lie straight down).Ravenous hunger with rumbling
and grumbling in the abdomen.Appetite without hunger; she
has a desire to swallow down in haste various things without there
being any craving therefor in the stomach.A sort of hunger; but when
she then eats ever so little, she feels at once satiated and full.When she wants to eat, she
feels full in the chest and her throat feels as if full of mucus.Want of appetite; only a sort
of gnawing, turning and writhing in the stomach urges her to eat.Repugnance to cooked, warm
food, especially to boiled meat, and hardly any longing for anything
but rye-bread (with butter), or for potatoes. [3]—–
[1]
This also at times turns into vomiting of water, mucus, or a gush of
acrid acid – more frequently after eating flour dumplings,
vegetables causing flatulence, baked prunes, etc.[2]
Often coming very suddenly.[3]
Especially in youth and childhood.In the morning, at once,
thirst; constant thirst.In the pit of the stomach
there is a sensation of swelling painful to the touch.Sensation of coldness in the
pit of the stomach.Pressure in the stomach or in
the pit of the stomach, as from a stone, or a constricting pain
(cramp). [1]In the stomach, beating and
pulsation, even when fasting.Spasm in the stomach; pain in
the pit of the stomach as if drawn together. [2]Griping in the stomach; a
painful griping in the stomach; [3]
it suddenly constricts the stomach, especially after cold drinking.Pain in the stomach, as if
sore, when eating even the most harmless kinds of foods.Pressure in the stomach, even
when fasting, but more from every kind of food, or from particular
dishes, fruit, green vegetables, rye-bread, food containing vinegar,
etc. [4]During eating, feels dizzy
and giddy, threatening to fall to one side.After the slightest supper,
nocturnal heat in bed; in the morning, constipation and exceeding
lassitude.After meals, anxiety and cold
perspiration with anxiety. [5]During eating, perspiration.
Immediately after eating,
vomiting.After meals, pressure and
burning in the stomach, or in the epigastrium, almost like heartburn.After eating, burning in
œsophagus from below upward.After meals, distension of
the abdomen. [6]—–
[1]
In some cases even while fasting, and causing him to wake up out of
sleep at night, sometimes oppressing the breathing.[2]
Usually a short time after eating.[3]
Not infrequently with vomiting of mucus and water, without which in
such a case the griping is not alleviated.[4]
Even after partaking of the slightest quantity of such things, there
may also ensue colic, pain or numbness of the jaws, tearing pain in
the teeth, copious accumulation of mucus in the throat, etc.[5]
There may also be pains, renewed now and then; e.g.,
stitches in the lips, griping and digging in the abdomen, pressure
in the chest, heaviness in the back and the small of the back, even
to nausea; when nothing but an artificially excited vomiting will
give relief. With some the anguish is aggravated after eating, even
to an impulse to destroy themselves by strangulation.[6]
With this, at times, weariness in the arms and legs.
Copyright © Médi-T
2006