Burning,
stinging pains (like bee stings); eyelids; throat, panaritium or felon,
hæmorrhoids, ovaries, (especially right one), breasts (mastitis), skin
(erysipelas, urticaria, carbuncles).
Great
œdema; general or local (face, ears, eyelids, especially lower);
throat (diphtheria); genitals (especially scrotum); skin (erysipelas and
urticaria); everywhere; general anasarca, abdomen. These œdemas are accompanied
with the characteristic pains, or no pain at all.
Stupor,
with sharp, sudden, shrill cries in brain disease (crie
encephalique).
Thirstlessness,
especially in dropsies and during heat of intermittents.
Skin
alternately dry and perspiring.
Suffocative;
feels as if every breath would be his last, especially in dropsical conditions
or hot stage of intermittents.
Modalities:
< after sleep, on touch (very sensitive), from heat and warm room; > cold
room or air and cold applications.
Bad effects
from suppressed or retrocedent exanthemata; measles, scarlatina, urticaria.
Involuntary
diarrhœa, with sensation as if anus were wide open.
* * * * *
It seems to
me that in this remedy also the leading characteristic is to be found in its
sensation-burning, stinging
pains. They are sharp and quick, like the
sting of the bee. These pains are as characteristic of this remedy as are the itching-like
chilblains of Agaricus, or the burnings of Arsenicum
and Sulphur; but the burning of Apis
are relieved by cold, while those of Arsenic
are relieved by heat. The stinging appears in many diseases, and kinds of
tissue. In the serous membranes or the brain coverings, when we get those
“shrill, sudden piercing screams”-“cri cerebrale,” which
attend such dangerous affections as hydrocephalus, cerebro-spinal meningitis and
typhus cerebralis, Apis is the remedy.
Again we get these pains in the mucous membranes, as in the throat and hæmorrhoids,
and the burning is almost always more or less present at the same time. It is
also found very prominent in the ovaries. It has proved a very valuable remedy
in cancers, even open ones, when this stinging, burning pain was present; also
in panaritium. I have seen rapid cures follow its exhibition in felon. Hering
put it -“redness and swelling with stinging and
burning pain in the eyes, eyelids, ears, face, lips, tongue, throat, anus,
testicles.” (> by cold applications ought to be added).
So we see
how generally the system comes under the action of this remedy. In skin
affections, especially the acute exanthems, this is the grand leading symptom,
and is especially indicated in affections of the brain and meninges caused by a
sudden suppression of skin diseases.
The next
general condition for which this remedy seems to be as near specific as any
remedy can be is an infiltrated cellular tissue; and œdematous or dropsical
condition. This condition obtains almost from the beginning of inflammatory
affections and extends to the stage of exudation, and even to chronic dropsical
states. In those intensely violent and rapid cases of diphtheria in which the
whole throat fills right up with œdematous swelling, the vulva hanging down
like a transparent sac filed with water (Kali
bichromicum, Rhus toxicod.), and the patient is in imminent danger of
death by suffocation from actual closure of the throat and larynx, there is no
remedy like Apis. The stinging, burning
pains may be present in these cases; or what is more
dangerous still, because there is no complaint until the case is far advanced,
is an absolutely painless condition, Baptisia
has painlessness in throat affections, but the swelling is not so rapid as Apis,
and there is no œdema. A number of years ago I was called to Watkins Glen, N.
Y., in consultation in a very bad case of diphtheria. One had already died in
the family and four lay dead in the place that day. Over forty cases had died in
the place and there was an exodus going on for fair. Her attending physician, a
noble, white-haired old man, and withal a good and able man, said, when I looked
up to him and remarked I was rather young to counsel him: “Doctor, I am on
my knees to anybody, for every case has died that has been attacked.” The
patient was two rooms away from us, but I could hear her difficult breathing
even then. Apis was comparatively a new
remedy then for that disease, but as I looked into her throat I saw Apis
in a moment, and a few questions confirmed it. I told the doctor what I thought
and asked him if he had tried it. He said, no he had not thought of it, but it
was a powerful blood poison; try it. It
cured the case, and not one case that took this remedy from the beginning, and
persistently, died. It was the remedy for the genus
epidemicus. See my report of this in Vol. XII, Hahnemannian
Monthly.
This
œdematous condition of Apis may be found
in almost any part of the body, but is especially prominent in mouth and throat,
eyelids and face, around the eyes (Phosphorus,
whole Face); lower lids hang down like bags of water. (Kali
carb., upper lids). In erysipelas the swelling of the skin is of this
œdematous appearance, and generally with stinging pains.
Sometimes
the œdema increases until it forms large blister-like bags of water.
The
dropsical effusion may be general or local. It is found in the thoracic cavity,
in ovaries, in abdominal cavity, scrotum, and genitals of females. One peculiar
symptoms which helps to choose between it and other remedies in dropsy is the
almost absolute absence of thirst (with
thirst, Acetic acid, Arsenic and Apocynum).
I will now,
in addition to what I have written, call attention to some particular affections
and symptoms in which Apis should be
remembered. A very important symptom not yet mentioned is tenderness
or sensitiveness to touch, as
if bruised. This is particularly true in the abdominal, uterine, and ovarian
regions, but is not by any means confined there, for we may find the whole
surface of the body exceedingly sensitive to touch: even the hair seems sore (China
officinalis). The condition is often found in cerebro-spinal
meningitis and is a strong indication for Apis.
In erysipelas this tenderness is often present, and is found under Hepar
sulphur, as well as Apis.
The sleep
of Apis is either very restless, or in
brain diseases there is deep stupor,
interrupted occasionally by piercing screams.
Never forget Apis then. In all
inflammatory affections and in intermittent fevers, if you find the patient alternately
dry and hot, or perspiring, think again of Apis.
No remedy
has this alternation so strong as Apis. Sensation
as if every breath would be his last is very characteristic, and
occurs not only in dropsical troubles of the chest, but seems also to be a
nervous symptom. In scarlatina Apis is
especially indicated if the eruption is retarded or retrocedent and serious
brain troubles result, and it is no less efficacious in post-scarlatinal
dropsies if the symptoms do not indicate some other remedies.
Frequent
urging to urinate, with straining and cutting, burning pains.
Small
unsatisfactory quantity passed at a time, or bloody urine.
Excessive burning
pains (eyes, mouth, throat, stomach, intestinal tract; all the mucous surfaces
and skin).
Stringy and
tenacious discharges from the mucous membranes.
Nearly all
complaints accompanied with the characteristic urinary symptoms.
Erysipelas,
with blebs or large blisters filled with water and burning pain; useful for
surface burns (locally).
Uncontrollable
anguish, furious rage, frenzied delirium; strong sexual desire, both sexes.
Disgust for
everything; drink, food, tobacco.
Dysenteric
stools, bloody and shreddy, like scrapings from intestines, with tenesmus in
rectum and bladder.
* * * * *
If I were
to select the one remedy with which to prove the truth of the formula similia,
etc., I think this would be the one. There is no remedy that so surely, and so
violently, irritates and inflames the urinary organs, and no remedy so promptly
cures such irritation when it puts on, the Cantharis
type or form, which it often does.
H N.
Guernsey wrote: “It is a singular fact, though known to most practitioners,
that there be frequent micturition attended with burning, cutting pain, or if
not so frequent and the cutting, burning pain attends the flow, Cantharis
is almost always the remedy for whatever other suffering where may be, even in
inflammation of the brain or lungs.” He might have added in the throat, and
mucous membranes all through the intestinal tract, even to the rectum and anus,
and in the pleura or on the skin.
He also
wrote: “Cantharis should always be
remembered and studied in treating affections of the air passages when the mucus
is tenacious.” (Hydrastis, Kali bichrom. Coccus
cacti, etc.) I had the pleasure of verifying the truth of this in the
case of a lady who had suffered a long time with bronchitis.
The mucus
was so profuse, and tenacious, and ropy, that I thought of Kali
bichromicum, and thought it must be the remedy; but it did not even
ameliorate, and she got worse all the time, until one day she mentioned that she
had great cutting and burning on urinating, which she must do very frequently.
On the
strength of the urinary symptom, for I knew nothing of its curative powers on
the respiratory organs at that time, I gave her Cantharis.
The effect was magical.
It is
needless to describe the mutual delight of both physician and patient in such a
case, for it was astonishing the rapidity with which the perfect and permanent
cure of the case was accomplished.
Let us
notice still further the effects of this remedy upon the urinary organs by
calling attention to a few symptoms that have been both produced in proving and
cured ab usu in morbis.
I have
learned to place the highest estimate
upon such symptoms. To be sure there are many symptoms in our great Materia
Medica that have come to us through clinical sources only, and very valuable
ones, too. But they cannot be received with such implicit confidence on short
acquaintance as those that are both pathogenetic and clinical. They should
always be separated when possible, as they were in “Hull’s Jahr” of
old. Here are a few of them. “Violent pains in
bladder, with frequent urging to urinates with intolerable tenesmus.”
“Violent burning cutting pains in the neck of the bladder.”
“Before, during and after urinating fearful cutting pains in the
urethra” “Constant urging to urinate; urine passed drop by drop with
extreme pain.” “Urine scalds him; it is passed drop by drop.”
No homœopathist
meeting these symptoms in a case would fail to think of Cantharis
at once, no matter what else ailed the patient, as it has cured the most diverse
and varied diseases when occurring in conjunction with these urinary symptoms.
How any physician of any school can deny the truth of similia
similibus curantur in the light of such testimony of proof can only
be accounted for on the principle of “none so blind as those who will not
see.”
Cantharis
has also very decided action upon the skin. In erysipelas it is sometimes the
best remedy, and choice has to be made between it and Apis,
which also sometimes has great urinary irritation
in such cases. In the Apis cases there is
apt to be more œdema; in Cantharis
more blistering. In Cantharis
the burning is more intense than under
the Apis, while in the latter there is
more stinging. The urinary symptoms, if
present, are very much more intense under Cantharis.-
Again, the mind symptoms of the two remedies are quite different. In the Apis
cases, aside from the stinging pains which make the patient cry out sharply at
times, especially if the eruption inclines to “go in” and attack the
membranes of the brain, the patient may not be so very restless and complaining;
but in the Cantharis case the patient is
uneasy, restless, dissatisfied, distressed, sometimes moaning or violently
crying; wants to be moved about constantly. The mind symptoms actually make one
think of Arsenicum album, and when we
take into account the intense burning it is doubly so. So that it would be very
easy to get confused between these two remedies, as well as Cantharis
and Apis. If great thirst is also present
it would make us think of Arsenic, And
now we are upon the skin, Cantharis is a
great remedy for burns, both locally as an application and internally for the
more chronic conditions and sequelæ. In all skin troubles where blebs or watery
vesicles form, which burn and itch, or when touched burn and smart, we do well
to remember Cantharis, and look further
to find more symptoms, if present, to corroborate it. Hering used to challenge
skeptics to burn their fingers, and then cure them by dipping the fingers into
water medicated with Cantharis. So great
was his faith in it.
I will call
attention to a sensational symptom of Cantharis
which I believe is underestimated in practice. It is the sensation of Burning.
If any remedy deserves to be placed alongside Arsenicum
for burning it is this one. I will quote so as to bring all together, in a way
to impress upon our memory the burnings of Cantharis.
“Inflammation of the eyes particularly when caused by a burn.”
“Burning in mouth, throat, and
stomach.” Great thirst, with burning
pain in throat and stomach. “Violent burning
pain in stomach in region of pylorus.” “Violent burning
pain and heat through whole intestinal tract.” “Passage of white or
pale-red tough mucus with the stool like scrapings from intestines, with streaks
of blood; after stool colic relieved, burning,
biting, and stinging in the anus.” “Great burning
pain in the ovarian regions.” “Peritonitis with burning
pain, abdomen sensitive and tenesmus of the bladder.” “Burning
and stinging of the larynx, especially when attempting to hawk up tough
mucus.” “Burning in the
chest.”
We have
already spoken of the burnings connected
with affections of the urinary organs, and also of the burnings
of the skin in erysipelas and other eruptions upon the surface.
This seems
to me to be sufficient to impress upon the reader the value of this symptom
belonging to this remedy. I will close by calling attention to its effect upon
the membranes to increase their secretion.
This action is positive and is a valuable indication for its use.
This spider
poison has like other spider poisons very positive nervous symptoms. It acts
upon the uterus and ovaries, and upon the female sexual organs generally.
“In case of hyperæstesia or congestion of these organs, which set up a
general hysterical condition, states simulating spinal neurasthenia, sensitive
and painful back; excessive restlessness, and impressibility to excitements,
music, especially, where there is constant inclination to keep the hands busy (Kali
bromatum), and again especially if accompanied by sexual desire or
pruritus of the genitals, Tarantula is
able to accomplish much.” Choreaic conditions, which are often the outcome
of an advanced stage of the above described nervous condition, are peculiarly
amenable to this remedy. Twitching or jerking of the muscles in conjunction with
other troubles should always call to mind this remedy, with which such jerkings
are so characteristic. It has a restlessness in women similar to the
restlessness in men of Phosphorus, viz.,
cannot keep quiet in any position; must keep in motion, though walking < all
the symptoms. This remedy is not yet as thoroughly understood as it should be.
Another spider ought to be mentioned in this connection, viz., the Tarentula
cubensis.
Or the
hairy spider. It is one of the most efficacious remedies for boils, abscesses,
felons, or swellings of any kind, where the tissues put on a bluish
color, and there are intense burning
pains. We used to think we had two great remedies in Arsenicum
and Anthracinum for these swellings; but Tarantula
Cubensis is simply wonderful. I have seen felons which had kept
patients awake night after night walking the floor in agony from the terrible
pains so relieved in a very short time that they could sleep in perfect comfort
until the swellings spontaneously discharged, and progressed to a rapid cure.
This remedy should receive a thorough proving. It is a gem.
Is also a
spider poison, and has cured cases of chorea. The cases seem to have been of a
very violent nature, and the twitching in the facial
muscles is predominant. This remedy also ought to be fully proven.
Another
spider which Grauvogl classed with his so-called hydrogenoid remedies, i.
e., the patient always suffered, with whatever she had, most
in wet weather. It is well to remember such positive modalities, for
it may narrow down the case to a few remedies from which our curative must be
chosen; for instance –Aranea, Natrum sulphuricum,
Dulcamara, Nux moschata, Rhus toxicodendron, Rhododendron– all have
these wet weather aggravations, and we will be apt to find our remedy there if
the patient is characteristically worse in wet weather.
Vertigo,
with nausea, on closing the eyes, or the least noise.
Over-sensitiveness
of nerves; scratching on linen or silk, or crackling of paper is unbearable.
Pain
running through upper left chest to shoulder.
Theridion
curassavicum is another spider poison proven by Hering. There is one
peculiar and characteristic symptom under this remedy, which has been verified
by myself and others -“Vertigo with nausea
especially on closing the eyes.” Allen puts it -vertigo on
closing the eyes (Lach., Thuja),
on opening them, Tabacum; on looking
upward (Puls., Sil.) from
any even least noise; aural or labyrinthine (Menière’s disease).
Again
“every sound seems to penetrate through the
whole body, causing nausea and vertigo” Asarum
has a somewhat similar symptom which is worth remembering. “Over-Sensitiveness
of nerves, scratching of linen or silk,
crackling of paper is unbearable.” (Ferr.,
Tarax.) The vertigo occurs in different affections of the head or
stomach, and cures the whole trouble when it is present. It seems like a small
thing to “go by,” but no smaller than “vertigo, worse on lying
down, and turning the head” (Conium),
or “vertigo on looking upward” (Silicea,
Pulsatilla) and many other symptoms of other remedies which have been
verified many times. Another symptom which seems to be very valuable in chest
affections is, “pains run through upper left
chest to shoulder.” (Phthisis
florida has been cured on this symptom for a guide, if given early.)
This is like Myrtus communis, with which
I have helped many cases having that peculiar local symptom. (Sulphur,
Pix liquida and Anisum stellatum
also have it.) Dr. Baruch says: “In rachitis, caries and necrosis it
apparently goes to the root of the evil and destroys the cause.”
We now
leave the spider family, but as we are dealing with small fry of the insect
order we will notice the Coccus cacti, a
small bug or insect which infests the plants of the cactus species of Mexico and
Central America. It has made its best record in curing affections of the
respiratory organs.
Whooping
cough with expectoration of much tough, ropy white mucus. This mucus comes in
large quantities and is often accompanied with gagging and vomiting, which seems
to expel the mucus from the stomach. Sometimes a bronchial catarrh remains after
whooping cough, which has this kind of expectoration. Here this remedy will
sometimes clear up the whole case. This is all I know of its virtues ab
usu in morbis. Now we come to a little pest of womankind all over.
Is another
animal remedy often found valuable in whooping cough. With this remedy the
aggravations generally come on in the after part of the night or in the morning
when the child awakens. The paroxysms are not confined to this time, but the
worst one comes then. The paroxysm ends in vomiting of clear ropy
mucus in large quantities, hanging in long strings from the mouth.
For such a cough Coccus cacti is excellent.
It has one
characteristic symptom which has been verified. “Sensation as if the
tendons were too short.” There is sometimes actual contraction as if the
legs cannot be stretched out. This has been verified in intermittent fevers, and
only the other day (a short time ago) Dr. Brewster, of Syracuse, told of a case
in which he was guided by this symptom.
A man was
driving a fractious horse that started to run away with him. Thinking to give
him enough of it he let the horse run, and when tired of running whipped him
into running more until he had run him up a hill several miles long. The road
over which he passed was very rough, and the 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 finally settled into what seemed likely to be a permanent
contraction of the tendons of the lower limbs. No remedy relieved, until the
good doctor bethought him of a case of intermittent fever which he had cured
twenty years before, being guided by this symptom. He gave the patient a dose of
Jenichen’s 600th potency of Cimex, with
immediate result, and cure of the case. “Honor to whom honor is due,”
even if it be a bed-bug.
Very
irritable mood; snaps and snarls; will not speak or answer civilly; mad.
Exceedingly
sensitive to pain, which makes her mad: numbness alternates with, or attends,
the pains; sweats with the pains.
Excessive
uneasiness; anxiety; agonized, tossing about; will only be quieted by carrying
the child about.
High fever
with sweating, especially on the head; thirsty; one cheek red and hot, the other
pale and cold.
Dentition
diarrhœa; green stools, foul odor like rotten eggs, much colicky pain, abdomen
bloated.
Cough dry
< at night, when asleep, from tickling
in throat pit; < cold weather and every winter.
Especially
adapted to children and nervous, hysterical women.
Violent
rheumatic pains drive him out of bed at night; compel him to walk about.
Burning of
soles at night; puts feet out of bed.
Numbness
with the pains.
* * * * *
Charles J.
Hempel called this “the catnip of Homœopathy,” because it was
particularly adapted to nervous affections, especially of children. This is one
of the remedies that finds its leading characteristic symptoms in the mind
of the patient. To “boil down” all the different ways in which the Chamomilla
mind can be and is expressed: “The patient is
cross, ugly, spiteful, snappish. She knows it, admits it, and so does
every one else. She will return mean, uncivil, spiteful answers to her best
friends, and then confess her fault, to repeat it again and again, and stoutly
affirms she cannot help it, she feels so.” This state of mind is always
present in the marked Chamomilla case,
whether it be adult or child.
Of course
the young child cannot give vent to its feelings by talking, so it comes as near
to it as it can by whining and crying, sometimes it seems without cause, and
also when it shows by fever, diarrhœa, teething and many other complaints that
it is actually sick and suffering. It wants this or that thing, puts out its
little hand for it, and when it is offered pushes it away and points to
something else, to reject it in turn. Now the child does not know what it wants,
but the homœopathic physician does. It wants a dose of Chamomilla.
This peevish disposition in which nothing pleases, takes possession of the
child, mother, father or any and all grades and classes of subjects when Chamomilla
is the remedy, and it is found in connection with all kinds of diseases. It is
also especially adapted for ailments brought on
by fits of anger. In short, it is the leading anger
remedy of the Materia Medica.
The other
leading anger remedies, or, for ailments brought on by anger, are Aconite,
Bryonia, Colocynth, Ignatia, Lycopodium, Nux vomica, Staphisagria.
It is also
one of the leading remedies for pain, and
there is this peculiarity about it, the pain is not always in proportion to the
gravity of the case, and we often see, for instance, in labor, a great deal
harder pains of which the patient does not complain half so loudly. But in the Chamomilla
case the patient is exceedingly sensitive to the pain and exclaims continually,
“Oh; I cannot bear the pain.” Many times have I met this condition in
labor cases, and in the majority of them the cross, peevish, snappish, condition
of mind accompanying, and seen it changed in a short time to a mild,
uncomplaining, patient state, by a single dose of Chamomilla
200th.
This
sensitiveness to pain is not confined to labor cases, but I have often observed
it in neuralgias, toothache, rheumatism, etc., and the same happy results
follows its use.
This
condition of sensitiveness is often found in coffee drinkers, or in those who
have been addicted to narcotics.
Chamomilla
is very useful here. There is another sensation which is often found in
conjunction with, or sometimes alternating with, this pain or sensitiveness, and
that numbness.
It is found
in rheumatism or paralytic states and is very characteristic. The pains of Chamomilla
are oftener aggravated by heat than otherwise, but are not on the other hand,
like Pulsatilla, ameliorated by cold. In
fact, the patient is often very sensitive to cold, and cold air brings on
troubles for which this remedy is specific. I now call to mind a very painful
case of rheumatism of the left shoulder in a middle-aged man. It was in my
earlier practice, when I was prescribing for names more than I do now, and of
course he got Aconite, Bryonia and Rhus
toxicodendron, etc., but no relief. A wiser man was called in
consultation and the patient was quickly cured by Chamomilla.
When I asked the counsel what led him to prescribe this remedy he answered numbness
with the pains.
Another
condition which is met by this remedy is restlessness
and sleeplessness. You will remember that
we gave as the great trio of restless remedies Aconite,
Arsenicum and Rhus tox That
was right, but we did not say that those were all the restless remedies. Here we
have another in Chamomilla. Let me quote:
“Violent rheumatic pains drive him out of bed
at night, and compel him to walk about.” (Rhus
tox., Ferrum met., Verat. alb) “Excessive
uneasiness, anxiety, agonized tossing about, with tearing pains in the abdomen.”
“The child can only be quieted by carrying it on the arms will not be quiet
unless carried.” (Opposite Bryonia).
These symptoms represent in a few words the restlessness of this remedy. But
some will ask, isn’t this similar to your trio
of restless remedies? It is; but there are shades of difference and concomitant
symptoms that decide between them all. And the true Hahnemannian is the man to
recognize them. There is no particular overwhelming fear, fear of death, etc.,
under Chamomilla as there is under Aconite.
The patient is maddened; driven to desperation under Chamomilla;
does not care whether she dies or not; had rather
die than suffer so, and so we might draw
lines of differentiation between this and other restless remedies, but it would
take too long. Each physician must get a habit of doing this for himself. In his
ability to do this lies the superior skillfulness of the homœopathic
practitioner. Without this he can only hope for indifferent success at most, and
will be driven to all sorts of experiments, adjuvants, surgical measures and so
forth which might be avoided, much to his own credit, and the advantage of his
patient. The sleeplessness of the Chamomilla
patient is owing to the pain and excessive nerve sensibility and this remedy
procures sleep by overcoming these troubles, which make the patient sleepless.
Now there are a few symptoms, when occurring in conjunction with the peculiar
mind and nervous symptoms of this remedy, that confirm the choice of it, such
as.
“Warm
sweat on the head wetting the hair.”
“Pressing
earache in spells; tearing pain extorting; cries.”
“Ears
particularly sensitive to cold air.”
“One cheek red and hot, the other pale and cold.”
“Face
sweats after eating or drinking.”
“Toothache
if anything warm is taken into the mouth.” (Pulsatilla).
“Toothache
recommences when entering a warm room.”
“Teeth
feel too long.”
“Dentition
with diarrhœa of green stools smelling like rotten eggs.”
“Hot
and thirsty with the pains; also fainting. ” (Hep.
sul.).
“Gastralgia
in coffee drinkers; constrictive pain, or as if a stone were in the stomach.
” (Nux vom.).
“Wind
colic; abdomen distended like a drum; wind passes in small quantities without
relief.”
“Stools
green, watery, corroding (Sulph.), like
stirred eggs.”
“Stools
hot, smelling like rotten eggs.”
“Metrorrhagia
dark coagulated blood, flowing in paroxysms.”
“Menstrual
colic, also following anger.”
“Labor
pains press upward, or begin in back, and pass off down inner side of
things.”
“Rigidity
of os, pains unendurable.”
“After-pains
also unendurable.”
“Children
have spasms, from fit of anger in the nurse.”
“Cough
from tickling in throat pit.”
“Cough
dry, worse at night, especially while asleep,
does not waken when coughing.” (Calcarea ost.,
Psorinum.)
“Chronic
cough, worse in winter or cold weather.”
“Body
chilly and cold; face and breath hot.”
“Heat
and chill intermingled.” (Ars. alb.).
“Skin
moist and burning hot.” (Bell.)
This does
not by any means cover all the symptoms which indicate Chamomilla,
but when they do occur it is strongly indicated and shows something of the range
and usefulness of this remedy when given according to homœopathic rules.
All senses
more acute; reads fine print easier; smell, taste and touch acute; unusual
activity of mind and body; full of ideas, quick to act, no sleep on this account
etc.
Affections
from sudden surprises, especially joyful surprises; very emotional.
Pains
insupportable, drive to despair; exasperation, tears, tossing about in agony;
great sleeplessness.
Headache,
from over-mental exertion, thinking, talking; one-sided, as from a nail driven
into the brain (Ign., Nux); as if the
brain were torn or dashed to pieces; < in open air.
Jerking
toothache; relieved by holding ice water in the mouth; returns when water
becomes warm.
* * * * *
Coffea
cruda, like Chamomilla, acts
strongly upon the nervous system. Indeed in nervous troubles, where the patient
has not been addicted to the coffee habit, it often takes precedence.
If on the
other hand he is a coffee drinker, Chamomilla
is the remedy. Doctor Teste, of Paris, used to say that coffee was responsible
for a large proportion of the neuralgias of France. The Coffea
patient is a subject of very great general exalted sensibility. See Hering’s
characteristic cards. “All the senses more
acute, reads fine print easier, smell, taste and touch acute, particularly also
in increased perception of slight passive motions.” “Unusual
activity of mind and body.” “Full
of ideas, quick to act, no sleep on this account.” “Lively
fancies, full of plans for the future.” These symptoms portray,
as plainly as words can, the nervous conditions calling for this remedy.
It makes
one think of Chamomilla, but the mind
of Chamomilla is not there. On the other
hand, it makes one think of Aconite, but
the fear of death is not there. Hering used to recommend Aconite
and Coffea in alternation in painful
inflammatory affections, where the fever symptoms of the former and also the
nervous sensibility of the latter were present, and I know of no two remedies
that alternate better, though I never do it, since I learned to closely
individualize. Coffea is especially
adapted to mental shocks, such as sudden surprises,
especially joyful surprises, excessive laughter and playing, disappointed love,
noises, strong smells, etc. It is also adapted to variable moods; first
crying then laughing, then crying again.
Coffea also
vies with Chamomilla and Aconite
as a pain remedy. “Pains. insupportable, drive
to despair.” “Exasperation,
tears, tossing about in great anguish.” Here again we would not
give Coffea in an habitual coffee
drinker, but Chamomilla rather.
The
particular localities where these pains mostly occur are in the head, where the
pain is generally one-sided, feeling “as though
a nail were driven into the head.” Ignatia
has a similar headache, and it generally occurs in hysterical subjects. Then
choice may have to be made between these two remedies.
Prosopalgia,
which is often traceable to bad teeth, and Coffea
has a very peculiar toothache, in the fact that the tooth is easy as long as he holds
cold water upon it. Remember Chamomilla
toothache is often caused by taking, warm
things into the mouth, but is not relieved by taking cold things like Coffea.
Dysmenorrhœa,
with excessively painful colic. If there are large black
clots and Coffea does not
relieve, follow with Chamomilla. Pains
threatening abortion, or after-pains, or very severe unbearable labor pains are
often relieved by this remedy. In short, for pains anywhere, which seem
intolerable, and there are no other especially leading symptoms, Coffea
is to be remembered.
The same
over-excitability, so characteristic of this drug, causes great sleeplessness,
and Coffea has won to itself great credit
as a sleep remedy. In my experience and
observation, it works best here in the 200th potency. And there is no more
beautiful verification of the truth of Similia
than just here, for it causes great sleeplessness
in many people when taken in large quantities. Cough and sleeplessness after
measles (a very common occurrence) is wonderfully relieved by it, and it is
sleep, not narcosis, and never injures or sickens the patient like the stupor
of the opium preparations.
Remedy of
paradoxicalities. Head better lying on painful side, moody, goneness not > by
eating, sore throat < by swallowing, thirst during chill, face red during
chill, etc.
Sad,
sighing, changeable, moody disposition.
Twitching
or spasms, or convulsions from exciting or depressing emotions, fright, etc.
All-gone,
weak, empty sensation in stomach not > by eating.
Anal
troubles (piles, prolapsus, soreness and pain after stool, pains shooting up
into abdomen).
Adapted to
emotional, hysterical subjects.
Modalities:
< slight touch, smoking, coffee; > lying on painful side; hard pressure;
profuse watery urination.
Cough; dry,
spasmodic; not relieved by coughing; the longer he coughs the more the
irritation to cough increases.
Pain; in
small circumscribed spots; over-sensitive (Coff.,
Hep.).
In most
cases Ignatia should be given in the
morning.
Ignatia
bears the same relation to the diseases of women that Nux
does to bilious men.
* * * * *
Ignatia
is another one of the long list of our nervous remedies. Its peculiar mental
symptoms, like those of Aconite, Chamomilla, Nux
vomica and many others, are most characteristic. Like these remedies,
it seems to exalt the impressionability of all the senses; but unlike the
others, it has in it a marked element of sadness, and disposition to silent
grieving. Anyone suffering from suppressed, deep grief, with long
drawn sighs, much sobbing, etc., and especially if inclined to smother or hide
that grief from others, is just the subject for this remedy. She desires to he
alone with her grief. Sighs much and
seems so sad and weak. The weakness is complained of right in the pit of the
stomach. She feels weak, faint, and “all gone”
there. Another equally characteristic state or mind is a changeable
mood. No remedy can equal Ignatia
for this. Aconite, Coffea, Nux moschata
and a few others have it, but Ignatia in
the greatest degree. And so this remedy becomes one of our best in the treatment
of hysterical affections. The patient is at one time full of glee and merriment,
to be followed suddenly with the other extreme, of melancholy sadness and tears,
and so these states of mind rapidly alternate. Again, we have in Ignatia
an impatient, quarrelsome, angry mood
(but not to the degree of Chamomilla) at
times. Again the Ignatia patient is,
because of her excessive impressibility, easily frightened. Here it becomes one
of our best remedies for the effects of fright, vying with Aconite,
Opium and Veratrum album. In
short, Ignatia may justly be termed
Pre-eminently the remedy of moods.
Aside from
its mental symptoms, it is a great nervous remedy. Its acts upon the spine as
decidedly as Nux vomica, affecting both
motor and sensory nerves. It is one of our best remedies for spasms or
convulsions, and is especially adapted to spasmodic affections originating in
mental causes, as after fright, punishment of
children or other strong emotions. In one case of puerperal
convulsions, other remedies having failed to do any good, the consulting
physician while observing the patient during one of the spasms noticed that she
came out of it with a succession of long drawn sighs. He inquired if the patient
had had any recent mental trouble, and learned that she had lost her mother, of
whom she was exceedingly fond, and whom she had mourned for greatly, a few weeks
before. Ignatia 30th quickly cured her.
Again, short of actual convulsions, Ignatia
has, in a most marked degree, twitchings
all over the body, hence it becomes one of our best remedies for chorea,
especially if caused by fright or grief on the mental side, or teething or worms
on the reflex irritation side. There is only one remedy that comes near it for
these twitchings and that is Zincum metallicum.
Of course, Agaricus, Hyoscyamus, Cuprum met.,
etc., come close, and some might think are equal. Veratrum
viride, when better known, may lay claim to high rank here. Ignatia
is sometimes recommended for paralysis, but will be found, I think,
exceptionally useful, and that mainly in hysterical cases, which are not of a
very dangerous character. Like Aconite, Chamomilla
and Coffea, Ignatia is over-sensitive
to pain.
Ignatia,
like its male partner, Nux vomica, is a
great remedy for headaches of nervous, especially hysterically nervous,
subjects. That would be about the same as saying, that while Nux
vomica is adapted to nervous men Ignatia
is the same for women, which is quite true. You will remember that hysterical,
nervous headaches are often one-sided. Hence Ignatia
is such an efficient remedy for headaches as expressed in these words: “Headache
as if a nail there driven out through the side of the head relieved by lying on
it.” These headaches come on in highly nervous and sensitive
subjects, or in those whose nervous systems have suffered from over-anxiety,
grief or mental work. The ever-changeable and
contradictory symptoms so characteristic of the drug shows here as
elsewhere. Not only does the pain in head change locality but at one time the
pain will come on gradually and abate suddenly (like Sulphuric
acid ), or, like Belladonna,
it will come on suddenly and abate as suddenly as it came. Like Aconite,
Gelsemium, Silicea, and Veratrum album,
the headache often terminates with a profuse flow of
urine. That is often the case in headaches of nervous hysterical
women. (Lac defloratum, profuse flow during
headache).
Finally the
headaches are aggravated by coffee, smoking, the abuse of snuff, inhaling
tobacco smoke, alcohol, close attention, from pressing at stool, and, while it
is sometimes relieved while eating, is aggravated soon after. The Ignatia headache is sometimes accompanied by hunger like that
of Psorinum. It is also < by cold
winds, turning head suddenly, stooping, change of position, running, looking up
long, moving the eyes, noise and light.
It is
ameliorated by warmth, lying on it, soft pressure,
external heat and profuse flow of limpid urine. Ignatia has some
strong throat symptoms. In the first place it has the so commonly observed
symptom called “globus hystericus,”
or as if a lump came up from the stomach into the throat as if she would choke.
She swallows it down but it comes right back and is very distressing. It is
especially apt to come if she gets grieved
and wants to cry. These are of course purely nervous sensations, but Ignatia
goes further, and also cures real serious affections of the throat like
tonsillitis and diphtheria. In these cases the real characteristic symptom is,
that the pain and suffering in the throat is relieved
by swallowing or is worse between the acts of deglutition. (Capsicum).
A very peculiar symptom for such troubles, for such cases are generally aggravated
by swallowing, hence we would not expect to frequently find a case in which this
would be the remedy; but such cases do arise occasionally and baffle us if we
haven’t the remedy. Here is where Homœopathy, as we say in base ball,
“scores some of its best runs,” and the satisfaction of curing such a
case with an unusual remedy is, to say
the least, very gratifying to him who performs the cure. With Ignatia
cases, in addition to the aggravation when swallowing liquids and relief from
swallowing solids. This is like Lachesis,
you remember, but is the reverse of Baptisia,
which can swallow liquids only; the least solid food gags. It is necessary to
keep these correspondences and opposites in mind, for it often enables us to
make what are called “snap shot” prescriptions and save much time,
study and suffering.
Some of the
particularly valuable “guiding symptoms” of Ignatia,
in addition to those already noticed, are “extreme
aversion to tobacco smoke.” This is a general aversion and
aggravates many, many complaints. “Weak, empty,
gone feeling at the pit of the stomach.” In the case of Ignatia
this symptom is apt to be accompanied by a disposition to sigh
or take a long breath. Two other remedies have this symptom of goneness in the
stomach as prominently as Ignatia. They
are Hydrastis and Sepia.
The other symptoms must decide between them. This weak feeling in the stomach in
Ignatia is sometimes described as a
feeling of flabbiness, as though the stomach hung
down relaxed. Ipecacuanha has
a similar feeling. Sometimes we come across very severe cases of gastralgia in
women of hysterical tendencies. Here this remedy is the first to be thought of.
Ignatia
has as positive action upon the anus and rectum as does Nux
vomica. Prolapsus of the rectum
is marked. (Ruta graveolens). Like Nux
vomica it has frequent desire for stool, but in place of stool, or
with it, comes the prolapsed rectum. The patient is afraid to strain at stool,
to stoop down or lift, for fear of the prolapsus. A contractive sore pain
follows after a stool and lasts for an hour or two. This is like Nitric
acid, which has the same symptom only after a loose stool. There is
also some pain in anus without reference to stool. Dunham, that prince of
observers, gave us the characteristic: “Sharp
pains shooting upward into the rectum.” (Sepia
has similar pains in uterus). It is a gem, and has often been verified. So we
see that Ignatia is one of our important
anal and rectal remedies.
This remedy
is also very unique in its fever symptoms. There is no disease in which we are
better able to show the power of the potentized remedy to cure, than
intermittent fever. Chronic cases that have resisted the Quinine treatment for
years are often quickly and permanently cured by the 200th and upwards. The
following symptoms indicate Ignatia: 1st.
Thirst during chill and in no other
stage. 2d. Chill, relieved by external heat.
3d. Heat aggravated by external covering.
4th. Red face during the chill. Here are
four legs to the stool, and we may sit upon it in perfect confidence. No other
remedy has thirst during chill and in no other stage. In Nux
vomica, you will remember, the chill is not relieved by the heat of
the stove, or the bed, and during the heat Nux
vomica must be covered, as the least uncovering brings back the
chill. So we see that notwithstanding the alkaloid of both drugs is strychnia
they differ widely when we come to apply them to the cure of the sick. The red
face during chill led me to the cure of an obstinate case, and after I noticed
the red face I also noticed that the boy was behind the stove in the warmest
place he could find. The 200th promptly cured. Two other cases in the same
family, at the same time, and from the same malarious district, were cured, one
by Capsicum, 200th. the other by Eupatorium
perfoliatum, same potency. The former had chill beginning between
shoulders, in the latter the chill in the A. M., great pain in bones before, and
vomiting of bile at the end of chill. I do not know but I have mentioned these
three cases before; but it will bear repeating, for it illustrates the efficacy
of potencies in obedience to our great law of cure. can any
reasonable man doubt such evidence?
Weakness of
cervical muscles, can hardly hold the head up.
Weakness in
small of back as if paralyzed; gives out when walking; can hardly stand, walk or
talk.
Hands and
feet get numb; asleep.
Headache
with nausea and vomiting; gets faint and sick on rising up or riding in carriage
or boat.
General
sensation of weakness; or weak, hollow, gone feeling in head, stomach, abdomen,
etc.; < by loss of sleep or night watching.
Great
distention with flatulent colic, wind or menstrual colic; crampy pains, inclined
to hernia.
Modalities:
< sitting up, moving, riding in carriage or boat, smoking, talking, eating,
drinking, night watching; > when lying quiet.
* * * * *
Farrington
says: “Cocculus acts on the
cerebro-spinal system, producing great debility of these organs. * * * It causes
a paralytic weakness of the spine, and especially of its motor nerves; thus we
find it a certain and frequent remedy in paralysis originating in disease of the
spinal cord. * * * It is especially indicated in the beginning of the trouble,
when the lumbar region of the spine is affected; there is weakness in the small
of the back as if paralyzed; the small of the back gives out when
walking. There is weakness of the legs, and by the legs I mean the entire lower
extremities; the knees give out when walking, the soles of the feet feel as if
they were asleep, the thighs ache as if they were pounded; first one hand goes
to sleep, then the other; sometimes the whole arm goes to sleep and the hand
feels as if swollen. These symptoms lie at the foundation of the symptomatology
of the whole drug; they all seem to depend upon spinal weakness.” Dunham
says: “Its sphere of action is preeminently the system of animal life; the
voluntary muscular system first, and then the sensorium are the primary seats of
action. Nausea extending to the point of vomiting and accompanied by faintness
and by severe vertigo when lifting the head is a characteristic symptom.”
Hughes says: “It influences the voluntary muscles rather than the
intellectual powers; with this Hahnemann’s provings entirely agree.”
Pareira says: “It acts rather on the voluntary muscles than the
intellectual powers.” We have given these quotations from different authors
in order to find whether they afforded us much help from a practical standpoint.
Dr. Hughes says the provings of Hahnemann corroborate these generalizations. We
quote from the provings:
“Weakness
of the cervical muscles with heaviness of the head,
muscles seem unable to support the head.” (Calc.
phos, Verat. alb.). “Paralytic pain in the small of the back,
with spasmodic drawing across the hips, which prevents walking.” “His
knees sink down from weakness, he totters while walking and threatens to fall to
one side.”
“At
one time his feet are asleep, at another the hands.” “The hand
trembles while eating, and the more the higher it is raised.” “Now one
hand, now the other, seems insensible and asleep.” The soles of the feet go
to sleep, while sitting.” “General attacks of paralytic weakness, with
pain in the back.”
All these
are verified symptoms from Allen’s Encyclopædia of
Pure Materia Medica. They are in the simplest terms, and while they
do agree with the statements of the above quoted learned men, acting upon the
spine and motor muscles, could be applied to the cure of the sick according to
the directions of Hahnemann by any layman of ordinary intelligence. Thus is the
practice of curative medicine simplified, being delivered from speculative
theorizings of dreamers, and if it will cure the sick in the case of a Cocculus
patient, it will by the same unerring law of “symptom covering” do it
in every curable case.
We might
sum up the whole action of this remedy upon the nervous system in one word,
viz., prostration, but what does that
amount to for purposes of prescribing. Many remedies prostrate fearfully, but
each one has its peculiar kind of
prostration, and when men, like I heard a celebrated surgeon in a homœopathic
college do, make their boast that they prescribed on physiological ground,
without any regard to symptomatology, I can but feel that such know little or
nothing of the art of homœopathic prescribing, no matter what their other
attainments. According to Hahnemann’s teachings symptomatology leads in
scientific prescribing, no matter what the pathological condition.
Aside from
the symptoms which attend the general prostration and spinal trouble, or coupled
with them, we have the following which are characteristic. “Confusion or
stupefaction of the head, increased by eating and drinking.” “Vertigo,
as if intoxicated and confusion of the mind.” “Whirling vertigo on
rising up in bed; which compelled him to lie down again.” “Sick
headache with nausea and inclination to vomit.” “All these symptoms
are made particularly worse by riding in carriage or boat.” Sea-sickness.
(Sea-sickness > on deck in fresh cold air.) (Tabac.).
The headaches and vertigo of Cocculus are
different from Bryonia, notwithstanding
the fact that both are made worse by rising up in bed. In Bryonia
and some other remedies the sickness at the stomach precedes the headache which
in Cocculus is exactly the reverse.
Painful sensation of weakness or emptiness
in the head is found under Cocculus and
is in keeping with the general weakness. This sensation of emptiness,
which is another name for weakness, is a
general characteristic of Cocculus, and
is found in head, abdomen, bowels, chest, heart, stomach; in short, in all
internal parts. The nausea of Cocculus,
which is so constant a symptom of the headaches, is something like that which is
so characteristic of Colchicum, viz.:
“Extreme aversion to food, caused even by the smell of food, although with
hunger.” With Colchicum there is
more pronounced nausea, as well as aversion. The patient is nauseated even
to faintness. There is with Cocculus
a metallic taste in the mouth.
The
sensorium comes under the same profound depression that invades the general
nervous system. The patient is sad, absorbed within himself, brooding, moody,
silent, sits in a corner buried in sad thoughts, etc. This is particularly the
case in nervous fevers. Depression, depression,
depression. Cocculus has some
very important symptoms in the abdominal and uterine regions.
One is great
distention of the abdomen. This is found in both flatulent colic and
dysmenorrhœa. In flatulent colic, for which it is so valuable a remedy, the
patient complains of a sensation as if the abdomen were full of sharp sticks or
stones. The attacks are often at mid-night. The flatus seems here and there, and
passage of it does not seem to relieve much, for new forms again take its place.
Then again
there seems to be great pressure in the inguinal region as if hernia
would occur. In dysmenorrhœa, in addition to the distention, there are griping,
cramping pains, which are very severe,
and also a remarkable degree of weakness.
She is so weak that she can hardly stand, walk or
talk. This is very characteristic and, so far as weakness goes,
resembles Carbo animalis, but in Cocculus it is in line with the general prostration of the
remedy, while in Carbo animalis the flow
weakens her. In Cocculus the flow may not
be at all excessive, but on the contrary may grow less and less and a
leucorrhœa appear in its stead, or even between the menses also. This is the
way we have to differentiate between remedies if we are successful in practice.
Now, if I
were to give the four great characteristic symptoms of this remedy they would be
these:
1. Weakness
of cervical muscles, with heaviness of head.
2.
Affections caused or < by riding in cars, carriage or boat.
3.
Sensation of weakness, or hollowness in various organs.
4. Ill
effects from loss of sleep, night-watching or over-work. (Causticum
Cuprum met., Ignatia, Nitric acid.).
Vertigo,
especially < on turning the head, or looking around sidewise, or turning in
bed.
Swelling
and induration of glands, after contusions or bruises.
Cancerous
and scrofulous persons with enlarged glands.
Urine
flows, stops and flows again intermittently, prostatic or uterine affections.
Breasts
sore, hard and painful during menstrual period.
* * * * *
This is
another of the so-called spinal remedies. I will not, as I did under Cocculus
quote what authorities say from a pathological standpoint. All seem to agree
that it paralyzes from below upwards, and the poisoning of Socrates with it is
adduced in illustration. It ought to be a remedy for locomotor ataxia The
strongest characteristic I know, from a homœopathic standpoint, it its peculiar
vertigo, which is much aggravated by turning the
head sidewise. (Coloc.,
turning head to left). Turning over in bed is the same. Some say lying
down in bed and turning over. I have found that it is not so much the
lying down as it is the turning of the head
sidewise, whether in an upright or horizontal posture.
I once
treated a case of what seemed to be locomotor ataxia with this remedy.
The patient
had been slowly losing the use of his legs; could not stand at the dark; and
when he walked along the street would make his wife walk either ahead of him, or
behind him, for the act of looking sidewise at her or in the least turning head
or eyes that way would cause him to stagger or fall.
Conium
cured him. It would always aggravate at first, but he would greatly improve
after stopping the remedy. The aggravation was just as invariable after taking a
dose of Fincke’s c. m. potency as from anything lower, but the improvement
lasted longer after it.
Taking an
occasional dose from a week to four weeks apart completely cured him in about a
year. It was a bad case, of years’ standing, before I took him.
I have
often verified this symptom in the vertigo of old people, where it is most
frequently found; but it also often accompanies various affections in all ages,
and especially is found in ovarian and uterine affections. I know of no remedy
that has this symptom so strongly.
There is a
form of ophthalmia in strumous subjects which calls for Conium
in preference to any other remedy, and the peculiar, prominent and uncommon (as
Hahnemann says, Organon, § 153) symptom is, photophobia,
intense, out of all proportion to the objective signs of inflammation
in the eye. The pains are worse at night and terribly aggravated by the least
ray of light, relieved in dark room and by pressure.
There may
or may not be ulcers on the cornea. Conium
is also one of our best remedies for falling of the eyelids, as are three other
remedies, viz: Gelsemium, Causticum and Sepia.
“Swelling and induration of glands, with tingling and stitches after contusions
or bruises.” Many cases of lumps or swellings in the breasts
(for which Conium seems to have a
particular affinity) have disappeared under the action of this remedy. Even
cancerous affections of breasts (Asterias rubens),
uterus and stomach have been helped or cured, especially if the trouble seems to
have originated in a blow or injury to
the part. It is perhaps the first remedy to be thought of in all cases of
tumors, scirrhous or otherwise, coming on after contusions, especially if they
are of stony hardness and heavy feeling. Conium
and Silicea both have hardness of mammæ,
Conium right, Silicea left nodules (Carbo
animalis, Conium, Silicea); acute lancinating pains. (Asterias).
Again it is to be especially considered if at every menstrual period the breasts
become large, sore and painful,
aggravated by the least jar or walking.
In all the
scirrhous affections of the breast, womb or other parts the pains of Conium
are burning, stinging, or darting, and may make one think of Apis
mellifica. The other symptoms must then decide between them.
Conium
has marked action upon the sexual organs. In the male there is great weakness of
the organs. He has intense desire and amorous thoughts, but is unable to
perform. He has emissions at the very thought or presence of a woman. The
erections are insufficient, last only a short time, or “go back” on
him in the act of embrace, and he suffers with weakness and chagrin afterwards.
This affects the mind and hypochondriasis of the bluest blue takes possession of
him.
This
condition of mind may obtain in both sexes; as a result of too free, and also
especially too infrequent indulgence; or,
excessive abstemiousness. Hence Conium
becomes a good remedy for old bachelors and old maids. If the vertigo is also
present in such cases Conium is sure to
be of great benefit.
Intermittent
flow of urine is very characteristic (Clematis).
One might think that this was owing to a paralytic condition of the bladder. I
don’t know; but I do know that the symptom often occurs in the hypertrophy of
the prostate gland incident to old age and Conium
helps. “Sweats day or night; as soon as one
sleeps or even when closing the eyes,” is a characteristic found
under no other remedy that I know of. (Reverse Sambucus).
Dr. Adolph
Lippe once made a splendid cure of complete one-sided paralysis in a man 80
years of age with this remedy, and was guided to it by this symptom. I think it
would be rather a difficult task to give a correct pathological explanation of
such a symptom; but there is a reason, and whether we can give it or not we can
cure it if we have a corresponding one appearing under a remedy; where a cure is
at all possible.
It is
interesting to follow out the connections of symptoms.
Take for
instance the single prominent symptom of Conium,
vertigo.
Vertigo
on turning the head, Con., Calc. ost., Kali c.
Vertigo
on moving the head, Bry., Calc. ost., Con.
Vertigo
on looking up, Puls., Silic.
Vertigo
on looking down, Phos., Spig., Sulph.
Vertigo
from odor of flowers, Nux v., Phos.
Vertigo
on watching, or loss of sleep, Cocc., Nux vom.
Vertigo
on the leastnoise, Therid.
Vertigo
while walking, Nat. m., Nux v., Phos., Puls.
Vertigo
while studying, Nat. m.
Vertigo
while or after eating, Grat., Nux v., Puls.
Vertigo
as if whirling, Bry. Con., Cyclam., Puls.
Vertigo
as if the bed turned, Con.
Vertigo
with fainting, Nux vom.
Vertigo
with staggering, Arg. nit., Gels., Nux v., Phos.
Vertigo
with eyes closed, or in dark, Arg. n., Stram., Therid.
Vertigo
with dimness of sight, Cyclam., Gels., Nux v.
Vertigo
when rising from seat, Bry., Phos.
Vertigo
when rising from stooping, Bellad.
Vertigo
when rising from bed., Bry., Chel., Cocc.
Vertigo
when stooping, Bell., Nux, Puls., Sulph.
Vertigo
when ascending, Calc. ost.
Vertigo
when descending, Borax, Ferrum.
Vertigo
when lying, Con.
Vertigo
must lie down, Bry., Cocc., Phos., Puls.
Vertigo
occipital, Gels., Sil., Petrol.
Vertigo
after sleep, Lach.
Vertigo
after suppressed menses, Cyclam., Puls.
A good
understanding of such connection often starts the prescriber in the “short
cut” route to the remedy in a case.