Phytolacca.
Phytolacca decandra. Virginian Poke. Poke-root. Red Ink Plant. Garget
Weed. N. O. Phytolaccaceć. Tincture of fresh root dug in winter. Tincture of the ripe
berries. Tincture of fresh leaves. Solution of the resinous extract, Phytolaccin.Clinical.─
Abortion, threatened. Albuminuria.
Angina pectoris, Anus, fissure of. Asthma. Barber’s itch. Boils.
Bone, diseases of; tumours of. Breasts, affections of.
Cancer. Cholera. Cicatrix. Ciliary neuralgia.
Constipation. Corpulence. Cough. Dentition, difficult.
Diarrhśa. Diphtheria. Diplopia. Dysentery. Dysmenia.
Ears, affections of. Erythema nodosum. Eustachian tubes, affections of. Glands, enlarged.
Gleet. Glossitis. Gonorrhśa. Gout. Granular conjunctivitis. Hćmorrhoids. Headache.
Hearing, altered. Heart, affections of; hypertrophy of; fatty. Impotence. Influenza.
Intestinal catarrh. Itch. Lactation, abnormal. Laryngismus. Leucorrhśa. Lichen. Liver,
affections of. Lumbago. Lupus, Mercury, effects of. Mouth, ulcerated. Mumps. Neuralgia. Nipples, sore; painful. Nursing, painful. Orchitis. Ozćna.
Panophthalmitis. Paralysis, diphtheritic. Parotitis. Prostate, affections of. Rectum, cancer
of. Respiration, abnormal. Rheumatism; syphilitic;
gonorrhśal. Ringworm. Rodent ulcer. Salivation. Sciatica. Sewer-gas
poisoning. Spinal irritation. Spleen, pain in. Stiff-neck. Syphilis. Syphilitic eruptions. Tetanus. Throat,
sore; diphtheritic; herpetic; granular. Toothache. Tumours. Ulcers. Uterus,
affections of. Warts. Wens.
Characteristics.─
Phyt.
dec. is a branching herbaceous plant, with a thick perennial root, sometimes
larger than a man’s leg in diameter. The young shoots, though extremely acrid, are rendered
harmless by boiling, and are eaten like asparagus in the United States. The berries have a
popular repute as a remedy for cancer and rheumatism. The berries of P. octandra are used in Mexico and the West Indies as a soap.
According to Raffinesque, quoted by Hale (who introduced the remedy into homśopathy), the
ash of the plant (which has been used as an escharotic in cancers, ulcers, &c.) contains
45 per cent. of caustic potash; and the plant contains besides an acid, Phytolaccic acid, which is closely allied to Malic acid. The plant is common throughout North America, the
Azores, North Africa, and China. It grows in damp places. Some rather severe cases of
poisoning have been reported. Vomiting, diarrhśa, frontal headache, sore throat, are the
most common symptoms observed. One boy who drank two or three drachms of a tincture of the
root had none of these symptoms, but developed complete tetanus: Extremities stiff; hands
firmly shut; feet extended; toes flexed; lower lids drawn down; teeth clenched; lips everted
and firm, general opisthotonos. Respiration difficult, râles heard all over the room. For
an hour muscular rigidity increased generally, with convulsive action of muscles of face and
neck; chin drawn close on sternum. This condition would last five or ten minutes, to be
succeeded by perfect relaxation, and return in twenty minutes more with the same violence.
After cold-water affusion, cupping, and sinapisms, the boy slept about twenty-five minutes.
On awaking some twitchings, especially of lower limbs; pain in back of head and stomach.
Next day he was quite recovered. A boy, 8, who ate a quantity of berries, was found in great
agony, complaining that his stomach was “pinched together.” He had nausea, violent
vomiting; throat sore and dry; fauces dark red, tonsils swollen. After vomiting ceased,
purging set in; stools dark brown and thin; severe pain in stomach on pressure, extorting
cries. Later he had burning griping in umbilical region; dim vision; tongue coated white;
spasmodic jerkings in arms and legs. In a woman, 45, who took Phyt.
as a “blood purifier,” a general rash, in appearance not unlike the rash of
secondary syphilis, was set up. In a family of four poisoned by eating the root in mistake
with their food, these symptoms were observed: Dread of movement; seems stupid; falls asleep
after a paroxysm of cramping pain has ceased; pain in forehead <
after eating; vomiting of clotted blood and slime; copious discharge of blood and mucus
which looked like scrapings of intestines; involuntary stools from straining, which occurred
even in sleep. In the mother of the family, seven months pregnant, it very nearly produced
miscarriage; the uterus could be felt contracting under the hand; involuntary straining and
hćmorrhage from the vagina; intense griping pain in small of back and cramps in legs coming
and going suddenly, coldness and withered appearance of extremities, whole body cold. In all
the above cases the spasmodic action of the drug is evident in some form. From inhaling the
dust of the powdered dried root, or the odour given off on slicing the fresh root, intense
irritation of eyes, nose, and throat, and severe headache and diarrhśa have occurred. Given
to animals, Phyt. has caused convulsive symptoms,
vomiting, and vomiting of worms. Wild pigeons and other birds which eat the berries acquire
a highly red colour and lose their fat. This last observation has led to the use of a
tincture of Phyt. berries as an anti-fat, and many
successful results have been reported. This observation may be taken as the key to one of
the great spheres of the action of this remedy─the absorption of
tissues, especially new growths. There are few remedies which have a wider range in the cure
of tumours and indurations, particularly of the female breast. Hale tells us that among
dairymen in America the root is used to regulate any abnormality in the milk of cows─scanty;
thick; watery; curdy; containing blood or pus. But its chief repute is in caked udders. In
breast induration and abscesses of nursing women, and even in cancers (internally and
sometimes externally as well), its action has been well confirmed. But it must not be
supposed that this action is purely physiological, as is the absorption of fat in birds. A
patient of mine, about forty-five, took Phyt. 30 for
sore throat. After a few-doses she was compelled to desist because of its effects on her
breasts; both became full and uncomfortable, and in the left one appeared a large lump in
its upper segment, which lasted five days, and was only got rid of by dint of vigorous
rubbing with camphorated oil. A case of cancer of the rectum has been cured with Phytolaccin 3x. In the uterus and the prostate gland (the male
uterus) specific symptoms were evoked in the poisonings and provings. Muscles, joints,
bones, brain, and spinal cord, as well as the special senses, were all more or less
disordered. The intense action of the drug on the throat has led to its being used as a
routine remedy in diphtheria. It is not a specific; but it has some very characteristic
symptoms which will indicate it when present. Among these are: Great pain at root of tongue
when swallowing; pains shooting from throat into ears on swallowing; hot feeling as if a
red-hot ball in throat; burning < by hot drinks; dark
redness of fauces. Eclectics (H. R., xi. 429) give the
expressed juice of the berries in “spasmodic or membranous croup, or diphtheria.”
There is one form of sore throat in which I have found it of the greatest service-the
so-called “diphtheritic sore throat.” Dark red, swollen mucous membrane and
tonsils, pain on swallowing, eruption of herpetic, whitish, or grey spots on fauces,
swelling and tenderness of the glands externally at the angle of the jaw. With these
symptoms there are generally headache, backache, wandering rheumatic pains and fever. I have
cleared up numberless cases of this kind with Phyt. 30.
Not infrequently epidemic influenza has taken this form, and then Phyt.
has been my most successful remedy. (Nash has relieved chronic follicular pharyngitis in
public speakers when there has been much burning, as if
a hot substance in throat.) One of the provers had “swollen and tender gland right side
of neck”; and swollen and tender glands in many other localities have been remedied
with Phyt. The headaches of Phyt.
are chiefly frontal, pressive, involving eyes, <
right side. One headache is peculiar, being associated with increased
sense of hearing. The irritation of the mucous membrane of the throat extends to
nose, ears, and eyes, producing characteristic symptoms in each. The discharges are tough,
stringy, difficult to detach, and may take the form of clinkers. Offensiveness and acridity
are also common features. The nervous irritability of Phyt.
has led to its successful use in disorders of dentition, a keynote symptom being:
Irresistible inclination to bite the teeth or gums together. The pains of Phyt. come and go suddenly; move about, radiate from a centre, or
change place. Pain in sore nipples of nursing women radiate all over the body when the child
is put to the breast. When pain in intestines disappears pain in extremities comes on. Pain
leaves heart and appears in right arm (this association is unusual, and therefore
important). Pains in head and chest go from before backward. Pains run down spine from nape;
from sacrum down outer aspect of thighs to toes. The outer
aspects of the limbs are chiefly affected. The shreddy discharge of Phyt.
mark it as a remedy in certain forms of intestinal catarrh and dysmenorrhśa. It is hćmorrhagic
and hćmorrhoidal, acting strongly on rectum and anus, curing tenesmus, bloody discharges
and heat. One characteristic pain (noted in a case of constipation) is: Shooting pain from
anus to lower part of rectum, along perinćum to middle of penis. “Gurgling in the
prostate gland, repeatedly in the afternoon,” was noted by one prover, and pains in
spermatic cords. Entire suspension of sexual appetite with relaxation of the genitals was
caused. Stiffness is a characteristic effect of Phyt., noted in the tetanus case, and in others in less degree.
Stiff neck, especially right side. The prostration is so rapid and profound that it has led
to the successful use of Phyt. in diphtheritic
paralysis. Faint and dizzy when standing. Soreness of all the muscles. Restlessness, but he
fears to move because motion < the pains. The
rheumatic swellings are hard, tender, and intensely hot. Phyt.
is suited to rheumatic or syphilitic subjects who are
sensitive to damp weather. Peculiar sensations are:
Brain as if bruised. Right side of head as if pressed firmly. As if sand in eyes. As if eyes
too large. As if lids granulated. As if tarsal edges raw. As if lids on fire. Nostril as if
tickled with a stiff feather. Nose and eyes as if a cold would come on. Tongue as if
scalded. As if a ball of red-hot iron in throat. As if lump in throat. As if apple core in
throat. Throat so full it felt choked. Pharynx feels like a cavern; chest as if it were a
big empty cask. Body as if bruised; pounded all over. As if joint were being chopped with an
axe. The right side is most affected, and many symptoms were experienced in the liver; there
were also some severe ones in the spleen. The liver-pains were <
lying on right (painful) side. The spleen pain was >
lying on left (painful) side. Nash has removed many breast tumours by giving a single dose
of Phyt. cm during the wane of the moon. The symptoms
are < by touch (liver, &c). There is great
general sensitiveness. Pressure < pain in joints and
ulcers. Pressure with hand > pain in breasts.
Pressure on trachea facilitates expectoration. Rubbing >
pain in hip. Riding < nose and breathing. < Stepping down high step. Rising from bed = faint feeling. Sitting up =
sick and giddy. Standing = faint and dizzy. Gaslight < eyes. Swallowing <.
After breakfast head and throat >, gastric symptoms <. Vomiting < headache,
> nausea. Hunger soon after eating. (This is like the
deadly sinking so often met with in the cancerous diathesis.) <
At menstrual periods. Must lie down. < Lying right
side. > Lying left side. >
Lying on stomach. < Standing and < motion. < Walking. < Raising arm. < Night.
< Morning; 3, 4, or 5 a.m.; on waking. < Damp weather; washing; hot drinks. <
Exposure to air; open air (but it > eyes). The
external use of Phyt. has been attended with good
results in cases of ulceration, and I have found a gargle of a few drops of the Ř to a
tumbler of water useful in many throat cases. A preparation of the leaves
has been used successfully by Hurndall (H. W., xxxi.
217) as an external application for carcinomatous growths in dogs; and an ointment prepared
with a strong tincture of the leaves as well as the juice of the leaves have been used for
malignant ulcers in human beings.
Relations.─
Antidoted by:
Milk, Salt, Coffee (vomiting), Nit. sp. dulc., Bell., Ign., Merc., Mez., Sul. (eyes), Op.
(large doses). Compare: Botan., Petiver. Diphtheria, Ar.
t., Lach. [Lach. has not the great pain at root of tongue when swallowing of Phyt. S. M.
Pease (Med. Adv., xxv. 27) found bleeding from the buccal cavity a keynote symptom of Phyt. in one
epidemic.] Hypertrophy of heart, Rhus (Phyt. has right arm numb; Rhus has left arm numb,
also Aco., Act. r., Puls.). Breast abscess, Bry. (Phyt. follows Bry. when suppuration seems
inevitable; pain goes from nipples all over body). <
Motion, Bry. Tetanic spasms, Nux (Phyt. is slower than Nux, has everted lips, alternate
relaxation and spasm). Pain in breasts when suckling, Crot. t., Phell., Lac c., Borax
(Borax, like Phyt., has > from pressure; Borax alone
has empty, sucked-out feeling). Sensation of apple core in throat, Hep., Nit. ac. Stringy
discharges and clinkers, electric shocks, flying pains, K. bi. Desires cold water (Physt.
opp.). Symptoms fly from centre outward (Abrot. opp.) Pains in breast at menstrual period,
Calc., Con. Diarrhśa with shreddy membranes, Caust., Ars. <
In damp weather, Rhus, Dulc. Pains in tibia, Carb. v., Lach. <
After sleep, Lach. Loss of fat (Sabal ser. opp.). Loss of sense of delicacy, Hyo. Bruised,
sore feeling, Arn. Hale says K. iod. is the nearest analogue (rheumatism, syphilis,
wasting); Merc. and its antidotes are also closely related.
Causation.─
Exposure to cold and damp.
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.─
Delirium.─Indisposition
to mental exertion; disgust for business on waking early in morning.─Melancholy,
gloom.─Indifference to life.─Great fear; is sure she
will die.─Loss of personal delicacy, complete shamelessness and
indifference to exposure of her person.─Irritability; restlessness.─Irresistible
desire to bite teeth together.─Cannot be persuaded to take nourishment.─Over-sensitive;
pain intolerable.
2. Head.─
Vertigo: staggering with danger of
falling; with dim vision; when rising from bed feels faint.─Headache:
with nausea; dull; heavy; neuralgic; rheumatic; syphilitic; with backache and bearing down;
weekly; < from wet weather.─Sore
pain over head, < on r. side.─Pain
in vertex; and sensation of soreness deep in brain as if bruised; when slipping from a high
step to ground.─One-sided pain, just above eyebrows, with sick stomach; < in forehead, or above eyebrows (glabella most affected);
comes every week.─Dull, pressive pain in forehead, with slight nausea,
cold sweat on forehead and feeling of weakness.─Shooting pain from l.
eye to vertex.─Violent pain at back of l. eye and over eyebrow extending
down side of head.─Heavy aching in forehead after dinner.─Slight
pain in forepart of head with increase of hearing.─Heaviness of head,
with feeling in back part of tongue as if burnt.─Headache commencing in
frontal region and extending backward.─Nausea and headache > by eating, but returning soon with vomiting which < headache and > the
nausea.─Pressive pain on forehead and upper part of both eyes; on vertex
with dryness.─Pain in back of head and neck.─Head
thrown backward.─Pain in occiput; and stomach.─Rheumatism
of r. frontal region with nausea, < morning; of scalp
when it rains, with depression.─Syphilitic nodes on skull.─Tinea
capitis.─Crusta lactea, moist, fearful itching, with little raw
tubercles on scalp, face, and arms.
3. Eyes.─
Eyes staring.─Blue
round eyes.─Eyes sunk deep in sockets with livid circles.─Sclerotica
dark yellow.─Sharp pain through ball of eye on reading or writing.─Dull
aching in eyes, < from motion, light, or exercise.─Pressure
around eyes in afternoon as if eyes too large.─Circum-orbital pains in
syphilitic ophthalmia.─Panophthalmitis.─Aching along
lower half r. orbit.─Orbital cellulitis.─Lids feel
granulated; tarsal edges feel scalded, hot, raw.─Burning and smarting
sensation (feeling of sand) in eyes and lids, with profuse lachrymation and coryza, which is
> in the open air.─Smarting in
inner canthi (< l.), <
by gaslight in evening.─Lids agglutinated and swollen, as if poisoned.─Reddish-blue
swelling of lids (< l.), <
morning; cannot close eyes without pain all forenoon, >
afternoon.─Fistula lachrymalis.─Lids feel on fire.─Lupus,
epithelioma, &c., of lids.─Pupils: contracted (tetanus); much
dilated.─Photophobia.─Motion of one eye independent
of that of the other.─Double vision; with giddiness and headache.─Objects
quintupled.─Far-sighted.
4. Ears.─
Shooting in r. ear.─Pains
in both ears, < r.; <
swallowing.─Obstruction in l. Eustachian tube, rushing in l. ear, a
feeling as if hearing were dull, while at same time sensitive to minutest sounds.─Irritation
in one Eustachian tube.─Increased sense of hearing (most r.); with pain
in forehead.─Very peculiar pressure and tension in parotids.
5. Nose.─
Flow of mucus from one nostril while the
other is stopped.─Drawing sensation at root of nose.─Feeling
in nose and eyes as if a cold would come on.─Acrid, excoriating
discharge.─Wakes 3 a.m. with nose stopped up, discharges clinkers from
both nostrils in morning.─Sensation in nostrils as if tickled with a
stiff feather.─Total obstruction of nose, when riding must breathe
through mouth; not > by blowing nose; mucus
discharged with difficulty.─Syphilitic ozćna with bloody sanious
discharge and disease of bones.─Rodent ulcer.
6. Face.─
Face: pale; sunken, blue, suffering;
hippocratic distorted.─Stupid.─Cool sweat on
forehead.─Heat in face (l.) after dinner with redness of face, coldness
of feet, eruption in upper lip (l.).─Face very red, almost purple;
alternately very pale.─Pains in bones of face and head at night, keeping
her awake many nights; proceeding esp. from “nodes” on frontal bone, very much
like pains of periostitis.─Pains in upper jaws.─Jaws
ached awfully the whole time, it seemed he could not open or shut them.─Blotches
in face, < afternoon, after washing and eating.─Swelling
round l. ear and side of face, like erysipelas; thence over scalp; very painful.─Ulcers
and scaly eruption on face.─Chin drawn closely to sternum by convulsive
action of muscles of face and neck; lips everted and firm (tetanus).─Eruption
on upper lip.─Ulcers (cancerous) on lips.
7. Teeth.─
Teeth all ache; feel elongated and are
very sore.─Shooting pains in r. upper and lower molars.─Irresistible
inclination to bite teeth together.─Difficult dentition; crying,
moaning, restless at night; diarrhśa in hot weather; >
biting something hard.
8. Mouth.─
The mouth fills with saliva; tenacious,
yellowish, ropy, with metallic taste.─Cold, sticky, stringy saliva.─No
saliva.─Taste: disagreeable; metallic; burnt; nutty; bitter at first;
leaving smarting and coldness towards tip of tongue.─Burnt feeling on
back of tongue (with heavy head).─Tongue: coated white; furred; thick at
back; dry, and lips; feels scalded; thick; protruding.─Tongue feels
rough, with blisters on both sides, and very red tip; great pain in root of tongue when
swallowing.─Roof of mouth sore.─Mouth dry.─Submaxillary
glands swollen.
9. Throat.─
Sensation of dryness in throat and the
posterior fauces (provoking cough, with disposition to hawk and clear the throat); tonsils
swollen.─Uvula large, almost translucent.─Fauces
congested and of a dark red colour.─Sore throat (roughness and rawness),
swelling of soft palate in morning, with a thick, white, and yellow mucus about the fauces.─Sensation
of a lump in throat (when swallowing), causing a continuous desire to swallow; also when
turning head to l.─Could not swallow, throat so dry and rough.─Throat
feels like a cavern.─< From hot drinks.─Difficult
swallowing; with every attempt excruciating shooting pains through both ears.─Sensation
of apple-core in throat.─While riding in forenoon sensation of plug in
throat, not > by hawking; this sensation was replaced
by increased discharge of mucus from posterior nares, discharged with difficulty, constantly
exciting attempts to expel it.─Sensation of rawness and scraping in
throat and tonsils.─Burning heat in throat as from coal of fire, as if
red-hot iron ball lodged in fauces and whole length of śsophagus; catarrh in throat;
diphtheria.─Eruption on fauces and śsophagus.─Herpes
pharyngalis.─Soreness of posterior fauces extending into Eustachian
tube.─Fulness in throat.
11. Stomach.─
Intense thirst.─Canine
hunger; soon after eating.─Loss of appetite.─Eructations:
of air; sour fluid; food in evening.─Hiccough, with great inclination to
vomit but no nausea.─Nausea followed by violent vomiting of mucus, bile,
ingesta, worms; of clotted blood and slime, with retching, intense pain, and desire for
death to relieve.─Vomits undigested food.─Frequent
vomiting; prostration, fainting, even convulsions, followed by gripes, cramps, vomiting of
dark bilious substance.─In great agony; said his stomach was pinched
together.─Bruised and sore feeling at pit of stomach.─Heat
in stomach.─Cutting in pit of stomach, tender to touch.─Pains
in cardiac portion of stomach, < full respiration and
by walking.─Pain in region of pylorus.
12. Abdomen.─
Intense vomiting and purging, with
griping pains and cramps in abdomen.─Soreness and pain in r.
hypochondrium (during pregnancy).─Sore spot, r. hypochondrium, size of
dollar, extremely sensitive to touch.─Digging in upper and lower
portions of liver.─Lying on r. side =
penetrating pain in r. hypochondrium.─Violent dull pressing pain l.
hypochondrium, cannot remain in sitting posture, lies on painful side all night and pain is
gone in morning.─Heavy aching pain in hypochondrium which left as soon
as leucorrhśa commenced.─Chronic hepatitis, with enlargement and
induration.─Burning, griping pain in umbilical region.─Much
rumbling, pain in umbilicus, stools of blood and mucus; gastro-enteritis.─Bearing-down
pains.─Violent pains in abdomen during menstruation in a barren female.─Rheumatism
extending to abdominal muscles.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Constipation, hard stools.─Stool
with mucus and straining.─Constipation habitual; patient says the bowels
will not move without the aid of purgatives; feeling of fulness in abdomen before stool,
which remains after stool, as if all had not passed.─Constipation from
torpor of the rectum.─Constipation: of the aged; of persons with weak
heart.─Diarrhśa with sickly feeling in bowels; passage only of mucus
and blood, or like scrapings from intestines.─Tenesmus.─Continual
inclination to stool but passes constantly fetid flatus.─Diarrhśa early
in morning after lemonade.─Dysentery.─Intense
vomiting or purging, with prostration and cramps, as in cholera.─Stools:
thin, dark brown; of mucus and blood; of bile; from 1 or 2 a.m. till after breakfast; mushy;
yellow, then greenish, then dark, bloody; dark, lumpy.─Hćmorrhoids
permanent and obstinate; bleeding and mucus.─Neuralgic pains in anus and
lower part of rectum, shooting along perinćum to middle of penis; in middle of night (with
constipation).─Bloody discharge with heat in rectum.─Heat
in rectum with burning in stomach.─Ulceration; fissure.
14. Urinary Organs.─
Weakness, dull pain, and
soreness in region of kidneys, < r., connected with
heat; uneasiness down ureters; chalk-like sediment in urine.─Albuminuria;
after scarlatina or diphtheria; chills at night without special fever, accompanied by a form
of insanity.─Pain in bladder before and during urination.─Slight
suppression of urine, with pains in loins.─Violent, painful urging to
pass urine.─Copious nocturnal urination.─Thick,
chalk-like sediment.─The dark-red urine leaves a mahogany stain in the
chamber.─Urine: acid and albuminous; excessive or scanty; stains clothes
yellow.
15. Male Sexual Organs.─
Sharp pains (and hard,
grinding pain) running up each spermatic cord; later continued soreness in place of the
pains.─Gurgling sensation in prostate gland.─Complete
loss of desire, absence of erections and relaxation of parts during the proving.─Impotence.─Gonorrhśa;
gleet; orchitis, with suppuration and fistulous ulcer.─Syphilis:
chancres; ulcerated throat; ulcers on genitals; bubo; rheumatism.
16. Female Sexual Organs.─
Menses: too frequent
and copious; mammć painful; increase of tears, saliva, bile, urine; rheumatic subjects.─Menses:
amenorrhśa complicated with ovarian irritation or disease; very painful menstruation in
apparently barren women when occurring in connection with rheumatism; shreds of membrane are
passed with the menstrual flow.─Leucorrhśa: uterine, thick, tenacious,
irritating.─Profuse, thick, tenacious, from swollen Nabothian glands.─Threatened
miscarriage; bearing-down pains; involuntary straining and hćmorrhage per vaginum caused in
woman seven months pregnant.─Sensation as though menses would appear all
the time.─Dysmenorrhśa accompanying erosion or ulceration of the
cervix; menses too often; too profuse, with corresponding increase of the tears, and other
secretions.─Metrorrhagia.─Inflammation, swelling,
and suppuration of the mammć.─Neuralgia of breasts.─Mastitis,
where the hardness is very apparent from the first, with great burning; very sensitive
nipples or breasts, which are more or less painful; even after suppuration these
characteristics continue.─Fulness of both breasts; lump in upper part of
l.─Abscesses; Fistulć; tumours; cancer; hypertrophy.─Irritable
tumour; very sensitive and painful; < at menstrual
period.─Nipples cracked and excoriated; intense suffering on putting
child to breast; pains radiate from nipple all over body.─Breasts hard
as stones after confinement.─Breasts full of hard, painful nodosities.─Suppression
of lochia.─Pain in sacrum, down to knees and ankles, then up to sacrum,
jerks here and there, after confinement.
17. Respiratory Organs.─
Hoarseness and aphonia.─Tickling
in l. side larynx with hacking cough, aching r. side of breast, great dryness of throat.─Sensation
of roughness in the bronchia.─Laryngismus, thumbs and toes flexed;
features distorted; eye muscles act independently.─Respiration difficult
and oppressed; loud mucous riles.─Faint, with sighing, slow breathing.─Panting.─Cough:
hacking, dry, hawking; from tickling in larynx or dryness in pharynx: < night, on lying down; dry, bronchial.─Cough
with: scraping and tickling in throat; burning pains in trachea and larynx, sensation of
contraction of glottis, laboured breathing; sensation of ulcerated spot in trachea just
above breast-bone, could only expectorate (pus) by pressing on this spot pains through
mid-sternum.─Hoarse, croupy, barking cough, <
at night < out of doors.─Expectoration:
thick, tough; thick, starch-like mucus, profuse and exhausting with pharyngitis.─Dryness
of larynx and trachea, < evening.
18. Chest.─
Sharp pains through upper part of
chest, preventing a long breath.─Stitch from r. chest to back.─Pain
and suffocation in lungs, throat, and fauces.─Pains in lungs, 7 a.m.─Tenderness
and lameness of muscles of chest, as if bruised.─(Chest feels as if it
were a big empty cask.).─Rheumatism of lower intercostal muscles from
exposure to cold and dampness.─Spots size of lentil on chest.─Hard,
tender swelling midway between nipple and sternum, but nearer latter; restless nights; (in
baby a few months old).
19. Heart.─
In night awoke with lameness near
cardiac region, with much nervous restlessness, <
motion, esp. < expiration; kept him awake long time.─Constrictive
feeling in prćcordia with pressure in temples.─Great pain in
prćcordia, much < walking.─Occasional
shocks of pain in heart region, as soon as this ceases similar pain appears in r. arm.─Heart-beats
distinctly felt.─Fatty degeneration; lassitude and indisposition to
move.─Pulse: small, irregular, with great excitement in chest, esp. in
cardiac region; full but soft; intermittent; weak.
20. Neck and Back.─
Hardness of gland in r. side
of neck.─Stiff neck, < on r.
side; in bed; after midnight; on waking.─Back very stiff every morning.─Sensation
as if cold iron were pressed on painful scapula.─Both scapulć ache
continually.─Towards evening, while riding, laming pain began l. side
back below scapula; 9.30 p.m. it had reached spine and was a pricking stitching.─Severe
pain behind scapulć when walking.─Intense griping in small of back.─Pain
running down spine from nape.─Pain in loins with suppression of urine.─Constant,
dull, heavy pain in lumbar and sacral regions.─Pains shooting from
sacrum down both hips to feet.
21. Limbs.─
Intense cramps, muscles gather in
large knots, hard and ridged; come and go suddenly.─Rheumatism of all
joints 3 p.m.─Sudden transference of internal pains to extremities.─Pains
in limbs always in outer aspects.─Patient is subject to rheumatic pains
on change of weather, esp. in hips and thighs; rheumatic muscular or chronic rheumatism.─Rheumatic
pains in arms and hands.─Cold hands and feet.
22. Upper Limbs.─
Enlarged glands in axillć.─Shooting
in r. shoulder-joint with stiffness and paralysis.─Rheumatism of (l.)
shoulder (esp. in syphilitics); pains fly like electric shocks from one part to another; < night and damp weather.─Pains at
attachment of deltoid.─Weakness and aching in r. humerus, < motion and extension.─Dull aching and
excessive tenderness, as from a bruise, in outer muscle of r. arm.─Hands
tremble.─Rheumatic pains in hands; sudden pricking.─Painful,
hard, shiny swelling of joints of all fingers.─Bony growth in palmar
aspect of one finger.─Whitlow.─Ends of fingers all
throb and ache as if going to suppurate.─Shooting like needles in
finger-joints; in top of l. thumb.
23. Lower Limbs.─
Neuralgic pain in outer side of
both thighs (shooting from sacrum); sciatica.─Sharp, cutting pain in
hip, drawing, cannot touch floor; pain runs down outside of thigh, <
night, and esp. < after sleep.─Rheumatic
pains in lower extremities, < damp weather.─Sensation
of shortening of tendons back of knee when walking.─Leg drawn up.─Legs
tremble.─Pain in dorsum of r. foot, 4 a.m.─Syphilitic
and mercurial rheumatism; nightly pains in periosteum of tibia, with nodes and irritable
ulcers on lower leg.─Stitches in various parts, always from without
inward and near surface.─Ankles swollen.─Feet
puffed, soles burn.─Ulcers on inner sides of soles.─Aching
of heels, dull, wearing; > raising feet above level
of body.─Pain in great toe waking him at night.─Corn
painful.
24. Generalities.─
Extremities stiff, hands
clenched, feet extended, toes flexed, teeth clenched, lips everted, firm, chin drawn on
sternum, opisthotonus.─Great desire for cold water, for bathing in it.─Pains
are pressing, shooting, and sore.─Great exhaustion and prostration.─Sore
and stiff.─Soreness from head to foot in all muscles.─Pains
and numbness followed by itching and burning.─Pains came suddenly in
full force and so continued till they ceased; followed by drowsiness, stupor, or sleep.─Bones
and glands inflamed and swollen.
25. Skin.─
Skin cool, shrivelled, dry,
lead-coloured.─Syphilitic eruptions and ulcerations-secondary and
tertiary.─Squamous eruptions; tinea capitis; lupus.─Shingles.─Itch.─Pityriasis.─Psoriasis.─Warts.─Lipoma.─Erythematous
blotches, slightly raised, pinkish, slowly desquamating, ending in purple spot, as old ones
died away others came.─Suppuration of painless tumours.─Drawing
in cicatrices.─Itching began on hands and feet and spread over whole
body; rash followed four hours later; itching < by
scratching; < heat of bed.─Itching
and lichen-like eruption on l. leg, < fore part of
night, preventing sleep till midnight.─Boils; esp. near ulcers; on back;
behind ears.─Ulcers: punched-out looking; lardaceous base; pus watery,
fetid, ichorous; shooting, lancinating, jerking pains; syphilitic; cancerous.─Warts.─Corns.
26. Sleep.─
Frequent yawning; drowsiness.─Restlessness
at night, pains drive him out of bed.─On awaking feels wretched.
27. Fever.─
Great coldness, withered appearance of
extremities.─Coldness, faintness, dyspnśa; limbs cold, head and face
hot.─Internal shiverings during the pains.─Chill:
every morning; sudden, followed by fever after confinement; at night without special fever.─Heat:
with pain in joints; high fever; in face after dinner; with red face; on l. side of face.─Sweat:
cold on forehead; esp. under toes; night-sweat, acrid.® 2000
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