Hydrastis.
Hydrastis canadensis. Golden Seal. Orange-root. Yellow Puccoon. N. O.
Ranunculaceć. Tincture of the fresh root.Clinical.─
Alcoholism. Asthma. Cancer. Catarrh. Chancroids. Constipation.
Corns. Dyspepsia. Eczema impetiginoides. Ears,
affections of. Faintness. Fistula. Gastric catarrh. Gonorrhśa. Hćmorrhoids.
Jaundice. Leucorrhśa. Lip, cancer of. Liver, affections of.
Lumbago. Lupus. Menorrhagia. Metrorrhagia. Mouth, sore. Nails,
affections of. Nipples, sore. Noises in the head.
Nursing-women, sore mouth of. Ozćna. Placenta,
adherent. Post-nasal catarrh. Rectum, affections of.
Sciatica. Seborrhśa. Stomach, affections of. Syphilis.
Taste, disordered. Throat, deafness. Throat, sore. Tongue,
affections of. Typhus. Ulcers. Uterus,
affections of.
Characteristics.─
The so-called root of Hydrastis from which the tincture is made is really a perennial
underground stem, thick, knotty, and yellow. The yellow colour is very intense, and it has
been used by Indians as a dye. The plant is the only specimen of its genus among the
Ranunculaceć. It grows in shady woods, in rich soil, and damp meadows. The fruit is like a
raspberry, and the plant is sometimes called Ground Raspberry
in consequence. The medicinal properties of Hydrast.
were known to the aborigines of America. The first mention of it in medical literature is by
Rafinesque (Medical Botany, 1828). Hale quotes him as
saying that it is “tonic, ophthalmic, detergent,” and that “it is said to
enter into compound remedies for cancer, acting as a detergent tonic, and the Cherokees are
supposed to use it in that disease.” This is important as showing that the traditional
reputation of the plant agrees with the results of later experience. For though by no means
a specific in all cases of cancer, it is in cancer cases that Hydrast.
has won its chief fame; and I think it may fairly be said that more cases of cancer have
been cured with it than with any other single remedy. Thanks to the excellent provings that
have been made by homśopaths and the careful observations of able practitioners, we are in
a position to use the remedy with much greater precision than formerly. In very many cancer
cases there is what has been termed a “pre-cancerous stage,” a period of undefined
ill-health without any discernible new growth. This stage is generally marked by symptoms of
dyspepsia, and this frequently takes the Hydrastis type,
which has been well described by A. C. Clifton. The facial expression is dull, heavy,
sodden-looking; yellowish-white in colour. The tongue is large, flabby and slimy-looking;
bluish-white under the fur (which is yellow, slimy, and sticky), and indented by the teeth.
Eructations generally sour, at times putrid. Appetite bad, the power of digesting bread and
vegetables especially weak and causing eructations. Weight at stomach, with fulness, empty
aching “gone” feeling (this is a grand characteristic of Hydrast.,
and it is constant, not occurring at special times like
that of Sul., &c.). <
After a meal. The action of the bowels is either infrequent and constipated, or frequent
with loose, soft, light-coloured stools. Clifton found this type of dyspepsia occur
frequently in phthisical families, and often cured it; and even in cases of actual phthisis
this type is not uncommon, the loss of appetite and “goneness” being especially
prominent. In dyspepsia Clifton found the tincture and lower attenuations answer best; in
catarrh of nose and fauces the higher were better. Catarrh of almost all mucous surfaces is
caused by Hydrastis─nasal catarrh,
pharyngeal, bronchial, gastric, duodenal, intestinal, urethral (gonorrhśa, gleet), vaginal.
The characteristic catarrh is yellow (the leading colour of the drug) or white; tough and
stringy. The action on the skin is no less marked. Garth Wilkinson found it externally and
internally an excellent remedy in small-pox. Eczema impetiginoides, drying into crusts and
burning like fire, has been cured with an application of one part Hydras.
Ř to nine of glycerine. The burning was removed at once. (I once saw a woman, 60, who had
been given Hydrast. Ř gtt. v. in water three times a
day, after a week come out in a scarlet rash, raised and nodular, exceedingly irritable,
especially at night. It was on every part of the body except the face, and was worst on
buttocks and elbows. It remained out a week. The patient at the same time became very ill
with sickness and general digestive disorder.) The skin may be jaundiced. There is excessive
sweat, especially of armpits or genitals; offensive ulcers; chancroids; fissures. The female
genital organs are very much affected: Metrorrhagia, leucorrhśa, pruritus vulvć, scirrhus
of uterus; of breasts; sore mouth of nursing-women; sore nipples. Weiss gave a woman, 31,
who had had adherent placenta in several confinements in succession, Hydrast. 3x three drops daily from the fourth month during her
last three pregnancies, and each terminated without adherent placenta. Four other cases of
habitual adherent placenta were successfully treated in the same way. There is much backache
of severe character in connection with many of the Hydrast.
conditions. Sometimes it awakens patients in the night. Like many other “yellow”
medicines, it has a marked action on the liver, causing jaundice and liver enlargement.
Cases of cancer of the liver have been reported cured by it. Fulness, goneness, and
constipation are the leading indications. The constipation of Hydrast.
is a leading feature of the pathogenesis. There is torpor of the bowels; stools lumpy,
covered with yellowish tough mucus; with the constipation continual pain in head, bad taste
in mouth. Hydrast. has been a good deal used in
bronchial catarrhs with the characteristic tenacious secretion. In one case an over-dose
brought on a characteristic attack of asthma (H. W.,
xxxiv. 293). The dose was gtt xx of the liquid extract, and Miodowski, who reported the
case, thought there was pulmonary śdema secondary to cardiac weakness induced by the drug.
It is worthy of note that most remedies which powerfully act on the skin will also cause an
asthmatic state. The symptoms generally are < at
night. Skin symptoms are < from warmth; from washing,
&c. The catarrhal symptoms are < from harsh, dry
winds; out of doors. Rest >; motion <. There is < by touch;
clothing feels uncomfortable about groins. Pressure >
many symptoms.
Relations.─
Antidoted by:
Sul. (head symptoms and sciatic pains). It antidotes:
Merc. and Chlorate of potass. Compare: Am. m., Ant. c.,
Kali. bi., and Puls. (mucous membranes); Alo., Collins., Sep., Sul. (lower bowel); Berb.,
Dig., Gels., Lyc., Pod., Merc. (gastro-duodenal catarrh, involving bile ducts); Nux v.
(gastric catarrh of alcoholism); Merc. cor., Euphras. (nasal catarrh); Hepar (syphilitic ozćna,
after abuse of mercury or iodide of potash); Ars., Bapt., Con., Condur., Kreas., Phytol.
(cancer of breast); Chi. (intermittent); Strychn. (spinal cord); Chel. (cancer of breast;
liver affections); Sang. (burnt sensation on tongue); Kali bi. (hair sensation); Ars., Aur.
mur., Hydrocot., Ant. t., Bapt., Thuj.
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.─
Forgetful; cannot remember what he is
reading or talking about.─Irritable; disposed to be spiteful.─Gloomy,
taciturn, disagreeable.─Moaning with occasional outcries from pain.─Depression;
sure of death and desires it.
2. Head.─
Feeling as if intoxicated; headache;
weakness.─Dull, heavy frontal headache over eyes; catarrhal.─Sharp
cutting in temples and over eyes; < over l.; > from pressing with the hand.─Dull
frontal, headache, with dull pain in hypogastrium and small of back.─Severe
frontal headache; as if brain being pressed against frontal bones.─Vertex
headache every other day, commencing at 11 a.m., with nausea, retching and anguish.─Dull
heavy pain in occiput (l.).─Aching in cerebellum, first r., later l.
side.─Myalgic headache in integuments of scalp and muscles of neck.─Eczema
on margin of hair in front; < coming from the cold
into a warm room; oozes after washing.─(Seborrhśa sicca).
3. Eyes.─
Profuse secretion of tears; smarting and
burning of eyes and lids.─Lids agglutinated; blepharitis marginalis.─Opacity
of the cornea.─Ophthalmia; catarrhal; scrofulous, with or without
ulceration; thick mucous discharge.─Dark greenish-yellow conjunctiva.
4. Ears.─
Roaring in the ears; like machinery.─Pain
in r. ear; it disappeared and was followed immediately by fulness in forehead and pain over
l. eye.─Sharp pain back of r. ear passing to shoulder.─Otorrhśa,
thick mucous discharge (fetid).─Partial stoppage of Eustachian tube.─Throat
deafness.
5. Nose.─
Tickling, like a hair in r. nostril.─Constant
discharge of thick white mucus; frontal headache.─Secretion runs more
from posterior nares, thick and tenacious.─Coryza watery, excoriating;
burning, smarting and rawness in nose (more r. nostril), discharge scanty in room, profuse
out of doors; rawness in throat and chest.─Sneezing, with fulness over
eyes, dull frontal headache, pain in r. breast and down arms.─Air feels
cold in nose.─Nosebleed, l. nostril, with burning rawness; followed by
itching.─Soreness of cartilaginous septum, bleeding when touched; inner
edge of r. ala sore and thickened.─Ozćna, with bloody, purulent
discharge.
6. Face.─
Expression weary, dull, skin pale, or
yellow-white.─Erysipelatous eruption following flushes of heat.─Aphthć
on the lips.─(Epithelial cancer of lip.).─Tenacious
mucus hangs in shreds from mouth.
8. Mouth.─
Taste flat; peppery.─Tongue
swollen, shows marks of teeth, coated white or with a yellow stripe.─Tongue
as if burned or scalded, later a vesicle forms on the tip.─Excessive
secretion of thick, tenacious mucus.─Stomatitis after mercury or
chlorate of potash; nursing-women or weakly children; peppery taste; tongue as if burned or
raw, with dark red appearance and raised papillć.─(Cancer of tongue.).─(Tumour
in hard palate, painful to touch, hard, somewhat elastic, disposed to bleed and discharge
offensive matter; climacteric.)
9. Throat.─
Uvula sore and relaxed.─Throat
dry; raw; sore; in morning on waking, felt most on coughing.─Hawking of
yellow, tenacious mucus from posterior nares and fauces, rawness of fauces.─Ulcers
in the throat, esp. after mercury.─(Cancerous ulcers on l. side of
throat, inside.)
10, 11. Appetite and Stomach.─
Indigestion from
atony of the stomach, esp. in old people.─Bread or vegetables cause
acidity, weakness, indigestion.─Eructations of sour fluid.─Vomits
all she eats, except milk and water mixed.─(Cancer.).─Faintness
at the stomach; sinking, gone feeling, with continued violent palpitation of the heart,
preceded by dull aching pains.─Marasmus.─Acute,
distressing cutting pains.─Chronic gastric catarrh; ulceration.─Carcinoma,
with emaciation, goneness.
12. Abdomen.─
Torpor of the liver, with pale,
scanty stools.─Liver atrophied.─) Jaundice, with
catarrh of stomach and duodenum.─Burning in region of navel, with
“goneness,” faintness in epigastrium.─Loud rumbling, with dull
aching in hypogastrium and small of back; < moving.─Cutting,
colicky pains, with heat and faintness; constipation; >
after passing flatus.─Cutting in hypogastrium, extending to testicles,
faintness after stool.─Sharp pain in the cćcal region.─Sharp
pain in region of spleen, with dull pain and burning in stomach and bowels.─Dull
dragging in groins, cutting pain extending into testicles.─Pains in the
groins as if he had strained himself; clothing uncomfortable.─Griping
pains with the stools.─Intestinal catarrh, followed by ulceration.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Fetid flatus.─Stool
(profuse) light coloured, soft, acrid; greenish.─Soft stool, followed by
faintness.─Stool lumpy, covered with (yellow) mucus; constipation.─Torpidity,
no desire for stool.─Obstinate constipation; with dull headache; sinking
sensation; with “dyspeptic cough.”.─Constipation aggravated by
cathartic medicines.─During stool: smarting burning pains in rectum.─After
stool: burning and smarting in rectum; long-lasting pain in rectum; hćmorrhoids and
fainting; exhaustion.─Proctitis.─Hćmorrhoids;
costive; even a light hćmorrhoidal flow exhausts.─Fistula ani.
14. Urinary Organs.─
Dull aching in region of
kidneys.─Urine smells decomposed; increased and of neutral reaction.─Catarrh
of bladder, with thick, ropy mucous sediment in urine.─Dysuria;
suppression; incontinence.
15. Male Sexual Organs.─
Debility after
spermatorrhśa.─Gonorrhśa, second stage, thick yellow discharge.─Gleet,
debility; copious, painless discharge.─Dragging in r. groin to testicle;
thence to l. testicle, thence to l. groin.
16. Female Sexual Organs.─
Aching pains in small
of back at climaxis; uterine affections with debility and digestive disorders.─Hot
watery discharge from uterus.─Leucorrhśa: tenacious, ropy, thick
yellow.─Ulceration of the os, cervix, and vagina; leucorrhśa; debility;
prolapsus uteri.─Os uteri very tender.─Uterine hćmorrhage;
menorrhagia and metrorrhagia, with fibroid tumours; at menopause.─Pruritus
vulvć, with profuse leucorrhśa; sexual excitement.─Lancinating pain in
breast extending up to shoulder and down arm.─(Cancer of breast, pains
like knives thrust into part.).─Hard, irregular tumour of l. breast,
nipple retracted, glands in axilla enlarged and painful, cachectic appearance.─Sore-mouth
of nursing women.─Abraided, cracked and sore nipples of nursing women.
17. Respiratory Organs.─
Scraping in larynx.─Dry,
harsh (rattling) cough from tickling in larynx.─Laryngeal and bronchial
catarrh.─Bronchitis of old, exhausted people; thick, yellow, tenacious,
stringy sputa.─Phthisis; with goneness in stomach, emaciation, loss of
appetite.
18. Chest.─
Rawness in throat and chest.─Rawness,
soreness, and burning in chest.─Asthma and śdema of lungs.─(Cancer
of r. lung.)
19. Heart and Pulse.─
Palpitation with faintness.─Palpitation,
pain shooting from chest to l. shoulder with numbness of arm; irregular and at times
laboured action; < lying either side; feeling of
immediate suffocation on attempting to lie on l. side.─Heart agitated.─Violent
long-continued palpitation in morning.─Pulse slow during the chill.
20. Neck and Back.─
Muscles of neck feel sore.─Tired
aching across small of back and in limbs; knees ache; >
by walking about.
21. Limbs.─
Limbs tired, ache, with coryza.─Shifting
pains in r. arm and leg, then l. leg.─Irritable, indolent, or scrofulous
ulcers on the legs.
22. Upper Limbs.─
Pain from head to shoulders,
with aching in both, more l.─Rheumatic pains in elbow, forearms, r.
shoulder, and first finger of l. hand.
23. Lower Limbs.─
Sharp shifting pain in l. limb,
from middle of thigh down to middle of leg.─Pain from r. hip to knee,
while walking.─Legs feel weak; knees weak; aching.─Aching
in sole of l. foot; no relief from change of position.─Atonic ulcers on
the legs.
24. Generalities.─
Faintness, goneness.─Weakness,
physical prostration.─Frequent sudden attacks of fainty spells, with
profuse cold sweat all over.─Mucous membranes: secretions increased,
tenacious, ropy; erosions.─Muscles greatly weakened; atony.─Small
wounds bleed much.─Marasmus.─Scrofulous and
cancerous cachexia.─Cancers hard, adherent, skin mottled, puckered;
cutting like knives in mammć.─Pressure of hand relieves the head.─Clothing
feels uncomfortable about the groins.
25. Skin.─
Jaundice, dark greenish-yellow colour.─Skin
dark purplish hue, with heat and tingling, < from
motion.─Hot, dry skin, with fever.─Burning heat and
itching in skin.─Hyperidrosis: excessive sweat of axillć and genitals;
offensive.─Erysipelatoid rash on face, neck, palms, joints of fingers
and wrist, with maddening burning heat, later skin exfoliates; pains < at night.─Nettlerash
(“hives”), < from scratching, < at night.─Scarlet raised nodular
eruption, excessively irritable, < at night, over
whole body except face, most on backs of elbows and on buttocks, preceded by feeling of
illness, vomiting and general digestive disorder; lasted a week.─Fissures
round mucous outlets.─Infantile intertrigo.─Variola;
all stages; itching tingling of the eruption; face swollen; throat raw; pustules dark;
faintness and great prostration.
26. Sleep.─
Awakened by backache and dull pains in
navel and hypogastric region.─Dreams wearisome, restless sleep.─Difficulty
in awaking.
27. Fever.─
Chill morning or evening; chilliness,
esp. in back or thighs, with aching; pulse slow.─Heat in flushes.─Great
heat of whole body.─Constant dull burning pains all the evening.─Gastric,
bilious or typhoid forms of fever, with gastric disturbances, jaundice and great debility
following.® 2000
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