Leptandra.
Leptandra Virginica. Veronica Virginica. Black Root. Culver’s Physic. Tall
Speedwell (U.S.A.). N. O. Scrophulariaceć. Tincture of resinoid Leptandrin. Tincture of
fresh root of second year. Trituration of dried root. (A fresh plant tincture should also be
made and tested.)Clinical.─
Ascites. Bilious
attack. Bilious fever. Constipation. Diarrhśa. Dysentery.
Dyspepsia. Headache. Jaundice. Liver, affections of.
Remittent fever, infantile. Yellow fever.
Characteristics.─
Leptandra
in the form of the resinoid Leptandrin has been the
subject of an heroic proving by Burt. As one of the grand characteristics of its relative Digitalis is white stools, so the grand characteristic of Lept.
is black stools. The following experience of Dr. Burt
fairly epitomises the drug’s action: “For the last two hours” (i.e., six hours after the second dose on the fourth day of
proving) “have been in awful pain and distress in umbilical and hypogastric region;
drinking cold water < the pain very much; dull,
aching, burning distress in region of gall bladder, with frequent chilliness along spine;
great distress in hypogastrium with great desire for
stool. A very profuse black stool, about the consistence of cream, with undigested potatoes
in it, gave >, but was followed by great distress in
region of liver extending to spine; for the last four hours there has been constant
distress, with pains in whole abdomen, but for the last half-hour the pains in umbilicus and
hypogastrium have been awful to endure, with rumbling
and great desire for stool; a very profuse black, fetid stool, that
ran a stream from my bowels, and could not be retained for a moment, gave great > but did not stop the pain altogether.” There were great
varieties of this stool, and in the later stages of the proving it became dysenteric and
mixed with shreds. There was also constipation with hard black stool, followed by softer.
And with the liver symptoms there was dull, heavy, frontal headache. These symptoms confirm
the use of the drug by eclectics as a kind of “vegetable calomel.” But though
black stools are the chief characteristic, they are not the only kind that Lept. causes. Hale gives the following as the order in which the
different kinds of stools occur in the time of the proving. (1)
Black, thick, tar-like, fetid. (2) Thinner, brownish,
often fetid. (3) Stool of mixed mucus, flocculent and
watery matter, with yellow bile or blood. (4) Mucous
bloody stool mixed with shred-like substances, often pure blood. Hale says it is only in
cases of dysentery which have developed in this way that Lept.
is curative; not in cases primarily dysenteric. Cases due to sudden climatic changes have
been cured by it. Farrington further characterises the liver action of Lept.: Dull aching in right hypochondrium, gall-bladder, and back of liver, accompanied by soreness. Burning distress in and
about liver after spreading to stomach and bowels. With this there is drowsiness and
despondency. Bilious and typhoid fevers with the black, tarry stools. Neidhard observed a
periodicity in cases cured by him: Periodical, occurring every two or three months;
yellow-coated tongue; constant nausea with vomiting of bile shooting or aching pains in
region of liver; loss of appetite; urine brownish, or, at any rate, very dark; often pain in
transverse colon giddiness. But the most characteristic symptom is very dark, almost black
stools. In cases of disease of any kind when these characteristic black stools are present Lept. must be thought of. Like Euphras.,
Lept. has a number of eye symptoms. Lept. is
a right-side medicine; has chilly sensation along spine and down right arm; pains in right
shoulder and arm. The symptoms are < by motion:
rising = nausea and faintness. Weakness is so great he
is hardly able to stand. < From exposure to wet
weather. < Drinking cold water. A peculiar sensation
is, “Feeling as if something was passing out of rectum.” Like Dig. and Tabac. it has
sinking at the pit of the stomach.
Relations.─
Dig. (liver; weakness; slow pulse; < by drinking), Scrof., Euphras., Gratiol. (botan.); Merc.
(with Merc. tenesmus continues after stool; with Lept. there is >
after stool, and only colic continues, and that in moderate degree); Nit. ac. (hćmorrhage
in typhoid Nit. ac. bright red; Lept. tarry); Bapt. (pain in gall-bladder typhoid and
remittent fevers); Gels. (infantile remittent); Bry. (<
by motion; sitting up = nausea); Bacil. (deep-in
headache); Canth. and Arsen. (membranous diarrhśa); Chi., Iris v., Pod. and Veron. off.
(liver);─Veron. off., following Aur. n. m., cured tarry stools
alternating with ashy stools in Nash’s case.
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.─
Gloomy, desponding, drowsy.─Gloomy
and irritable all day.
2. Head.─
Very dizzy while walking.─Very
severe frontal headache; walking <, making it almost
intolerable.─Dull frontal headache, with sensation as if the hair were
pulled out.─Dull frontal headache very deep in brain.─Constant
dull frontal headache; < in temples, with aching in
umbilicus.─Sick-headache with furred tongue.─Bilious
headache; constipation, bitter taste, indigestion.
3. Eyes.─
Smarting and aching in eyes, with dull
pain in eyeballs.─Profuse lachrymation.─Lids
agglutinated.
8. Mouth.─
Tongue yellow or black down centre.─Flat
taste.
11. Stomach.─
Canine hunger.─Awoke,
5 a.m., feeling very hungry, with great pain in epigastrium, >
after breakfast.─Food rises very sour 10 a.m.─Nausea
and deathly faintness on rising.─Vomiting of bile, yellow tongue;
shooting pains about liver, black stools.─Weak, sinking sensation at pit
of stomach.─Great distress in stomach and small intestines, with
immediate desire for stool.─Burning aching in stomach and liver < drinking water.─Dyspepsia from
disordered liver and stomach.
12. Abdomen.─
Dull aching in liver, < near gall-bladder.─Burning distress in
back part of liver and spine.─Periodical liver derangement, every two or
three months.─(Malignant disease of liver with black, tarry stools.).─Deliriousness;
complete prostration; heat and dryness of skin; cold extremities; fetid, tarry stools;
tongue thickly coated with black streak down centre.─Jaundice with
clay-coloured stools.─Constant dull aching distress in umbilical region.─Sharp,
distressing pains between navel and epigastrium.─Rumbling and distress
in whole bowels, esp. in hypogastrium, with black stools.─Bilious colic
or tendency to it.─Rumbling and distress in hypogastrium, profuse,
black, fetid stools, pains in bowels.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Stools: black, tarry,
bilious, undigested, followed by great distress in liver; mushy, with weak feeling in
bowels; greenish, muddy, spouting out like water; profuse, black, fetid, running a stream;
profuse, black, consistence of cream; black, papescent, tar-like, fetid, in afternoon and
evening; first hard, black, lumpy, afterwards soft and mushy; watery with large quantities
of mucus; yellowish green; clay coloured; < morning
as soon as he moves; < from meat or vegetables.─Profuse
watery stools, followed by severe cutting pains in small intestines; after exposure to wet,
damp weather.─Before stool: rumbling.─After stool:
sharp cutting pains and distress in umbilical region; faint, weak, hungry; griping but no
straining.─Profuse dark brown, almost black, mushy and highly offensive
stools; difficulty in retaining stool, must go immediately.─Sharp pains
preceding stool, > afterwards, but increasing
weakness; usually went to sleep soon after stool.─For nearly three
months camp diarrhśa, hardly able to stand; emaciated, features haggard and jaundiced;
stools previously mixed with undigested food, now muco-purulent and bloody, quite frequent,
with tenesmus and cutting pains low down in bowels; sense of weight at stomach after cold
water, cutting in bowels and disposition to stool.─The mucus discharge
resembles false membrane.─Dysentery or typhoid with black, tar-like
passages.─Constipation; hard, black stools followed by mushy portion;
piles, from hepatic derangement.─Frequently bleeding piles; constipation
and distressing pain beneath sacrum.
14. Urinary Organs.─
Red or orange-coloured urine
with aching in lumbar region.
16. Female Sexual Organs.─
Menses suppressed or
retarded; liver affected; prickly heat.─Leucorrhśa, with ulceration of
os; sometimes fetid with mucous shreds; irritation of bladder and rectum; frequent pain at
bottom of bowels; languor; skin hot and dry.
19. Heart.─
Soreness in cardiac region.─Pulse
slow and full.
20. Neck and Back.─
Chilly sensation in shoulders
and down back.─Sore, lame feeling in small of back.─Constant
distress with very sharp pains by spells in lumbar region.
22. Upper Limbs.─
Pain in r. shoulder and arm.─Both
wrists very lame and ache quite severely (< l.) in
morning; lasting till noon.
24. Generalities.─
Weary, can hardly walk.
25. Skin.─
Jaundice.─Dry, hot
skin.
26. Sleep.─
Sleep sound.─Sleep
restless after midnight; felt very ill next day.
27. Fever.─
Chilly along spine and down r. arm.─Shivering,
or dry, hot skin; limbs cold and numb; tongue black down centre.─Bilious
typhoid fever.® 2000
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