Cimex.
Acanthia lectularia. Cimex lectularius. Bedbug. N. O. Hemiptera. Tincture
or trituration.Clinical.─
Constipation. Cough. Hćmorrhoids.
Intermittent fever. Liver, complaints of. Muscles, contraction of. Seminal emissions. Skin,
affections of. Yawning.
Characteristics.─
Cimex
is an ancient remedy for intermittent fever. A characteristic symptom is: “Weariness
and inclination to stretch.” The flexors are most affected; pains in all joints as if
tendons were contracted and too short; every motion or stretching of arms or legs causes
tightening pain in them. (Nash records the following cure by Dr. Brewster, of Syracuse.
After driving a fractious horse that tried to run away over a very rough road a man was so
bruised and sprained about the buttocks and legs that he was confined to the house for a
long time in consequence. It settled finally into what appeared likely to be permanent
contraction of the lower limbs. No remedy relieved till Dr. Brewster remembered a case of
intermittent fever that he had cured twenty years before, being guided by this symptom. Cimex 600 (Jenichen) promptly cured.) Irresistible sleepiness.
Frequent yawning; sensation as of a cold wind blowing on knees. Pains in all joints as if
tendons contracted during chill. Chill commences with clenching of hands and violent raging.
Before chill, thirst and heaviness in legs; less thirst with chill, still less with dry
heat; none with sweat. After the chill, thirst, but drinking causes violent headache;
tickling in larynx causing dry, continuous cough. Gagging and belching at end of cough. Heat
with gaging; śsophagus feels constricted. Musty-smelling sweats. Night-sweats. Tertian and
quartan intermittents. A. W. K. Choudhury relates a case of intermittent (quotidian) cured
with Cimex 30, the chief indications being: “Chill
slight; thirst some days, none other days; shiverings; passed water twice during chill; chill < by lying down; increase of cough if he drinks water during
chill.” Stools with hćmorrhoidal sufferings. Stools hard in small balls;
urging to stool; after the discharge of a small piece of white stool, rectum closes firmly.
Incontinence of urine. Urine hot; brown or red sediment. Frequent erections in morning;
seminal emissions. Urticarious eruption. Motion <.
Stretching or extending the part <. Weariness compels
to lie down. Sitting < pain in small of back. During
rest: in morning, sweat on nose. Symptoms < in
morning. < By drinking. The whole right side is
especially affected.
Relations.─
Compare:
Nat. m. (headache lessens in the sweating stage); Ars. (headache remains or increases in the
sweating stage); Bell. (throbbing of the head in intermittents). Ars. and Bry. (gagging at
end of cough).
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.─
Anxiousness.─Sensation
as if he could creep into himself and on that account could not sufficiently crouch
together.─His own sweat is disgusting to him.─Clenching
of hands with violent rage at beginning of chill.─Anxiety after chill.
2. Head.─
Confusion of head as if headache would
ensue.─Pain like needle stitches in vertex with cough.─Headache,
almost depriving him of the power of thinking; most violent during the chill; caused by
drinking.─Sweating on head, nose and chest.
5. Nose.─
Annoying dryness of nostrils.─Fluent
coryza with pressure in frontal sinuses.─Constant sneezing in forenoon.─Sweat
on nose, morning, during rest.
8. Mouth.─
Tongue coated white.─Swollen
feeling of the tongue.─Feeling as if burnt on the tongue, in the region
of the palate and the upper anterior gums.
9. Throat.─
Dryness of the throat, causing him to
drink all day.─Śsophagus constricted; during the hot stage.
11. Stomach.─
Sour eructations.
12. Abdomen.─
Pain in the liver, as if it had been
strained by bending the r. side inward; the spot is painful when touching it and when
coughing.─Colic, followed by emissions of flatulence or liquid stools.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Stools hard, in small balls.─After
the discharge of a small piece of white stool the rectum closes firmly.─Stools
with hćmorrhoidal sufferings.
14. Urinary Organs.─
Urine brown, with a deposit
of sediment (during the fever, when he drinks).
17. Respiratory Organs.─
Dry cough, with gagging,
as if he would vomit, with perspiration.─Breathing oppressed after
chill.
18. Chest.─
Chest feels oppressed during chill.─After
chill, heaviness in middle of chest; anxiety.
20. Back.─
Pain in the small of the back,
extending over the abdomen, with distension of the abdomen.─Pain in the
small of the back; worse when sitting.─Weariness in loins, must sit
down.
21. Limbs.─
Painfulness in all joints; sensation
as if the tendons were too short (during the chill).
22. Upper Limbs.─
Pain in r. shoulder and the
anterior muscles of the chest, extending through the whole arm down to the nails; the
fingers feel as if they had gone to sleep.─At beginning of chill, draws
fingers together making a fist.
23. Lower Limbs.─
During chill knee-joints most
contracted; the leas cannot be extended.─At the end of chill, the legs
feel tired; the position of legs must be changed constantly; this ceases during the hot
stage.─Hamstrings feel too short, knees flexed; attempting to stretch
them = pain in thighs.─Knees feel
cold as from a cold wind.
24. Generalities.─
Pain in recti muscles of
thighs, with oppression of the chest, shortness of breath, and frequent, deep inspiration,
with a sensation as if he would creep into himself, and on that account could not
sufficiently crouch together; every attempt to stretch out arms or legs causes tensive pain
in these parts, and he suffers thirst rather than move.
26. Sleep.─
Great drowsiness; falls asleep when
sitting in the morning.─Irresistible sleepiness during chill.─Frequent
yawning; with cold feeling on skin.
27. Fever.─
Pulse feeble; intermitting.─Before
the cold stage, thirst; heaviness in the lower extremities.─At the
beginning of the chill, clenching of the hands and violent rage.─Chilliness
over the whole body, followed by dry heat, which is succeeded by some moisture over the
skin.─During the chill painfulness in all the joints; sensation as if
the tendons were too short; the knee-joints are most contracted; the legs cannot be
extended; the chest feels oppressed, obliging one to take a long breath frequently;
irresistible sleepiness.─At the end of the chill the legs feel tired;
the position of the legs has to be changed constantly; this ceases during the hot stage.─After
the chill thirst, and when he drinks he is attacked with violent headache, which almost
deprives him of the power of thinking; tickling in the larynx, causing a continuous dry
cough; oppression of breathing; heaviness in the middle of the chest; anxiety.─Amelioration
if he does not drink.─During the hot stage gagging in the śsophagus,
which impedes inspiration; thirstlessness; the water drunk to allay the gagging goes down at
intervals only; the śsophagus feels constricted.─If he drinks during
the fever he passes soon after very hot brown urine, depositing a good deal of sediment.─The
perspiration, after the hot stage, is accompanied by hunger.─Perspiration
mostly on the head and chest.─During the intermittent fever,
constipation; stools dry.® 2000
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