Cactus Grandiflorus cact.

A tincture is prepared from the fresh flowers and youngest twigs of Cactus grandiflorus L. (Cereus grand., Dec.).

Particularly a "heart remedy," most of the symptoms being the outcome of cardiac disturbance. ▶ A malarial feature is marked and valuable, and in this respect (only) it is to be compared with Gelsem.

Dig., Crotalus, Phos., Amyl nit., Spigel., Gelsem.

Muscles did not obey the will accurately, owing to defective vision or to other causes. ▶ Restlessness when sitting, legs thrown here and there involuntarily; R. with haste in his actions, he seemed never to be in time, with agitation at heart and feeling of oppression. ▶ Jerking-tearing in forehead and in limbs. ▶ Pain now and then during the day, in muscles of right upper arm, of chest, of calves, of soles. ▶ General discomfort. ▶ General malaise. ▶ Weakness; with sadness and bad humor; so that he does not venture to speak; so that he does not venture to walk. ▶ Inspiration of fresh air is very reviving.

Intermittent neuralgia, agg. fasting.

Congestive headaches. ▶ Threatening apoplexy. ▶ Neuralgic headaches, especially in right side and on vertex, periodical.

Dyspepsia, with heart symptoms, palpitation, constriction, etc.

Hæmorrhage from the bowels in malarial fevers and with heart symptoms.

Hæmorrhage from the bladder.

Inflammation of the ovaries, with constriction. ▶ Vaginismus. ▶ Dysmenorrhœa, pains occur periodically, menses cease on lying down, with heart symptoms.

Bronchitis, with rattling of mucus, great distress for breath, etc. ▶ Hæmorrhage from the lungs, with violent action of the heart, oppressed respiration (Compare Aconite).

Inflammation of diaphragm, with feeling of pain and soreness marking the attachments of the diaphragm.

Cardiac dropsy, with labored breathing, œdematous extremities, inability to lie down. ▶ Nosebleed, with hard, violent action of the heart and constriction. ▶ Acute inflammation of heart, pericardium and endocardium. ▶ Hypertrophy of heart. ▶ Violent palpitation. ▶ Angina pectoris. ▶ In all these diseases there is present the characteristic feeling as if an iron hand prevented the normal action of the heart, with suffocation, cold sweat, etc.

Intermittent fever, paroxysms about midday (11 A.M.), the paroxysms may be incomplete in their stages, accompanied by hæmorrhages, especially from the bowels; coldness predominates, not amel. heat; it may be followed immediately by cold sweat, with terrible anguish; in one case (a child) the paroxysm was accompanied by convulsions and hæmorrhage from the bowels.

▶ Hypochondriasis. ▶ Fear of death, belief that his disease is incurable. (Dig.). ▶ Sadness, taciturnity and weeping mood. ▶ Love of solitude. ▶ Anxiety, returning in evening. ▶ Passion at slightest contrariety. ▶ Feeling of having done violence to myself. ▶ Semi-remorse at having done something wrong. ▶ Disposition to do deliberately whatever was undertaken. ▶ Impulse to do something facetious; something bordering on the grotesque; to swallow large and unwholesome portion of medicine. ▶ Repugnance to the taking of more medicine. ▶ Talking nonsense in sleep at night and talking disconnectedly on waking. ▶ Difficulty in arriving at conclusions.

Aching from congestion; A., with weariness; causing anxiety, so that he cannot stay in bed; with weight on vertex, pressing in temples, pulsating in temples, ears and eyes, as if they would burst outward, weakness of vision and intolerance of light and sound. ▶ Empty feeling. ▶ Fulness as from congestion. ▶ Sensation at night as if brain had grown fast to skull. ▶ Vertigo; from congestion to head; causing staggering.

Aching in forehead; in left side in evening and on waking in night; in F., agg. bright light, loud voices or noises; intermittent, in F., agg. in house. ▶ Pulsating pain in temples, agg. at night. ▶ Pulsations in temples, as if skull would burst; in T. and ears, causing hypochondriasis. ▶ Weight in right temple, amel. pressure, and on right eyebrow. ▶ Pain like a weight on vertex; amel. pressure, agg. sound of talking and by any noise. ▶ Tensive pain in vertex every two days.

Pressure on right parietal bone; in left. ▶ Pain in left parietal bone in morning after rising; in left, in forenoon, more externally; in right side of head, agg. raising head from pillow; in right side, agg. sound of talking and by bright light; pulsating, in right side of head, with weight. ▶ Aching in cerebellum; in occiput, amel. quick exercise or mental activity; in O., agg. motion of head, with drawing. ▶ Painful drawing in aponeurotic covering of occiput, agg. bending head backward. ▶ Heaviness in posterior part of brain in retiring, agg. touch of pillow, amel. lying on side, with pain.

Vision weak; periodically; lost momentarily; lost, with circles of red light. ▶ Pulsations in ears. ▶ Hearing diminished by buzzing in ears. ▶ Noise all night like the running of a river.

Dry coryza, with necessity at night to breathe, with the mouth open; fluent and acrid C. ▶ Profuse nosebleed. ▶ Face pale, with emaciation; flushed; bloated (acceso) and red, with pulsating pain in head.

Tongue dry and coated, with slime in nares and throat. ▶ Sensation in mouth of having swallowed something unpleasant. ▶ Scraping in palate. ▶ Breath fetid in morning. ▶ Taste soapy; T. slimy, weedy. ▶ Scraping on soft palate. ▶ Felt in throat an accumulation of mucus, which was expectorated. ▶ Constriction in throat, causing frequent swallowing of saliva; C. in œsophagus, preventing swallowing, he must drink much water to force anything into stomach.

Appetite better than usual; at breakfast; great, but digestion slow and weak; lost; lost, with nausea; lost, with loss of taste of food. ▶ Thirst; satisfied with a small quantity of water at one time. ▶ Acrid, acid rising in throat, and mouth and making all food taste acid. ▶ Nausea; with retching and copious discharge of mucus. ▶ Copious vomiting of blood.

▶ Gastro-enteritis. ▶ Pain; terrible, with pressure inward, constriction of scrobiculus, extending to hypochondria and to fifth rib, as from a hot-iron cincture having involuted edges of an inch in size, pressing more and more till respiration was distressing. ▶ Pulsation; in pit; in cœliac artery after dinner, corresponding with pulsation of right temporal artery. ▶ Heaviness. ▶ Oppression and weight. ▶ Stricture about S. and chest. ▶ Constriction in scrobiculus, extending to hypochondria and impeding respiration. ▶ Burning. ▶ Empty feeling. ▶ Sensation of something disagreeable in it. ▶ Uneasiness as from difficult digestion. ▶ Digestion bad, all food causes weight in S. and so much suffering that he prefers to fast. ▶ Digestion slow, even after eight or ten hours the taste of food rises in throat.

Borborygmi before stool. ▶ Pain; almost causing faintness. ▶ Distress here and there as if a serpent were turning around. ▶ Soreness, with distention. ▶ Burning internally. ▶ Externally heat in parieties. ▶ Cutting in umbilicus after stool; in lower umbilical and hypogastric regions. ▶ Wandering periodical pains in umbilical region. ▶ Constriction in groins, extending around pelvis.

▶ Copious hæmorrhage (Crotal, Phos.). ▶ Bleeding of hæmorrhoids after stool. ▶ Swollen painful varices outside. ▶ Pricking, amel. slight friction. ▶ Sensation of great weight and urging to evacuate a great quantity, but nothing passes. ▶ Sensation as if rectum were swollen, causing scraping during stool and prickling. ▶ Itching.

Soft, then pain in hypogastrium. ▶ Frequent diarrhœa from 6 to 12 A.M., preceded by great pain, no stool in afternoon; frequent bilious, always preceded by pain; bilious, with pain in abdomen; frequent mucous, preceded by drawing pain; copious watery, the morning stools always preceded by pains and borborygmus. ▶ Hard, difficult, then discharge of blood from anus. ▶ Constipation; as from hæmorrhoidal congestion.

Constriction of neck of bladder. ▶ Frequent urging at night, with a copious flow each time. ▶ Ineffectual urging. ▶ Micturition by drops, with much burning. ▶ Involuntary M. in sleep at 5 A.M. ▶ Frequent and copious M. ▶ Irritation in urethra as if he should urinate constantly. ▶ Redness of orifice of urethra. ▶ Heat in urethra, gradually increasing. ▶ Urine copious; after a long endeavor to pass it; and reddish, turbid; and straw-colored. ▶ Urine scanty. ▶ U. of the odor of freshly-drawn green tea. ▶ U. deposits a red sand.

Tendency to congestion to urinogenital system. ▶ Priapisms towards evening; just before retiring. ▶ Great desire, with priapisms. ▶ Copious emission about 12 M., after strong desire.

Pain in uterus and its ligaments every evening, increasing gradually till 11 P.M. ▶ Pulsating pain in uterus and ovarian region, like an internal tumor suppurating, at the same hour every day, extending to thighs. ▶ (Constriction in uterine region, gradually extending to stomach, causing sensation of a great flow in veins and eliciting cries, then passing off rapidly.). ▶ Painful menstruation, causing loud cries; painful, with prostration. ▶ Menses eight days too soon. ▶ Black, pitchy, rather abundant M. ▶ Scanty M., ceasing while lying.

Cough, which aggravated the suffering, with mucous expectoration; C., with thick expectoration like boiled starch and yellow; catarrhal, with much viscid expectoration; spasmodic, with copious mucous expectoration; obstinate, stertorous, agg. night; dry at night, from itching in larynx.

▶ Hæmoptysis (Phos.). ▶ Difficult breathing, with oppression and uneasiness as if chest were constricted by an iron band (Dig. in part.). ▶ Periodical suffocation, with fainting, cold sweat on face and loss of pulse (Dig.). ▶ Congestive asthma. ▶ Oppressed breathing when walking; agg. open air; with anxiety; as from weight on chest (Phos.). ▶ Short inspiration; short breathing when walking and when ascending stairs, with palpitation.

Stitches in right upper. ▶ Pain; in upper part of right side; at night in nerves running from left axilla to adjoining pectoral region; in left breast, agg. touch, amel. gently raising it; agg. walking and ascending stairs, causing deep breathing, with palpitation; between left second and third ribs when sitting quietly, causing deep breathing; sharp wandering, in cavity, worse in scapular region. ▶ Painful drawings in left muscles extending to shoulder-joint and impeding respiration and use of arm. ▶ Constriction as if bound; as from a tight cord around false ribs, with obstruction of breath; in middle of sternum, as with iron pincers, agg. motion, with oppression of breathing; preventing free speech, when forced to speak the voice is weak and hoarse; in upper part, hindering respiration. ▶ Oppression, with loss of breath; O. in left subclavian region. ▶ Congestion, preventing lying in bed.

▶ Pricking pain, impending respiration and motion of body. ▶ Acute pain, with stitches, causing loud cries (Spig.) with obstruction of breath. ▶ Heavy pain, agg. pressure. ▶ Heaviness and pressure. ▶ Constriction as by an iron band (Amyl. n.). ▶ Sensation as if a reptile were moving backward, agg. by day. ▶ Drawing.

▶ Increased action all forenoon, and on walking pulsation in chest, with anxiety; beating, agg. lying on side at night, with pulsation in chest, and with anxiety and restlessness. ▶ Rapid, short, irregular beats on rapid motion. ▶ Violent irregular beats, with pressure and heaviness; violent irregular beats towards evening, from a sudden movement while sitting; on slow walking, rising from a chair, turning suddenly. ▶ Single irregular beats, with necessity to inspire deeply. ▶ Small, quick, irregular pulsations in morning on moving in bed. ▶ Violent beat on slow walking in the room, with tightness of chest and deep breathing.

▶ Palpitation (Spig., etc.), agg. walking, and at night when lying on left side; on sitting and lying in evening, agg. lying on back, with oppression at heart; at night in bed, with pulsation in upper part of chest; on standing and sitting, with anxiety at heart; at beginning of any motion, with anxiety in chest rising into throat but continued walking does not bring on P.; from rapid motion, such as suddenly stooping or rising from a seat, and from excitement, not from rapid walking; in small, irregular beats from slight excitement or deep thought, with necessity for deep inspiration. ▶ Nervous palpitation, augmented gradually at occurrence of catamenia. ▶ Heart symptoms felt on waking at night and changing position, as in daytime. ▶ Symptoms so violent when beginning to walk that he must stand still and inspire deeply, the same occurred on ascending and descending stairs.

Irregular. ▶ Hard and sudden, but not rapid.

Pain in spine, worse in lumbar region, pressing down gluteal muscles to inferior extremities. ▶ In muscles of lower right side, extending into gluteals, in morning before rising, lasting all day.

Tearing in joints, now in shoulder, now in elbows, now in fingers, agg. right side. ▶ Pain towards evening; P. in various joints. ▶ Drawing in fingers, toes, knees and ankles. ▶ Drawing pain in axilla and in neighboring part of chest anteriorly, affecting the nerves, in bed, before sleep. ▶ Tearing in left shoulder-joint; in shoulder and arms, at first worse in joints, afterwards worse in long bones. ▶ Constriction of shoulders, so that he could not move them. ▶ Tearing through left arm; drawing in right arm in morning on waking, lasting through forenoon, after rising it extends into right wrist. ▶ Numbness of left arm at night, with pricking in little finger. ▶ Weariness of arms, with heaviness. ▶ Œdema of hands, agg. left.

Pain in knees; waking him at night, extending from right knee-cap to outer side of leg, agg. slightest motion of leg. ▶ Weariness of legs in morning after rising, with heaviness in them and with sleepiness. ▶ (Œdema of legs up to knees, the skin shines and pressure with fingers leaves an impression for a long time); (O. of feet up to inferior third of legs). ▶ Cramplike pain in right sole when walking.

Dry, scaly herpes (Ars.) at outside of elbows, right, then left ; on internal malleoli, left, then right. ▶ Formication of arms, agg. left, with weight and difficulty in raising them. ▶ Itching on lower part of tibia; on ankles; on abdomen in evening on undressing, and on calves; like stings of insects, on chest and abdomen every evening, amel. in bed on going to sleep, afterwards it appeared during the day, amel. at evening.

Sleepiness, lay down early and slept well all night with his clothes on; S. as after severe illness. ▶ Sleeplessness; in evening and night from arterial pulsations in pit of stomach and in right ear; the forepart of the night on account of rush of ideas, then restless sleep; the first hours in the evening, then sudden waking; with pulsations in both ears. ▶ Restless sleep. ▶ Interrupted sleep, and the next morning fatigue as if he had not slept at all. ▶ Delirium at night, ceasing on waking, but returning as soon as he goes to sleep. ▶ Voluptuous dreams, with painful erections; V. dreams, with emission of semen.

Shivering, which passes of quickly towards 2 P.M. ▶ Chilliness towards 10 P.M.; at night; with chattering of teeth. ▶ Fever every day at the same hour (Cedron), chill at 1 P.M. then heat, dyspnœa, pulsating pain in uterine region, ending in sweat, then from 11 P.M. till 12 A.M. complete apyrexia. ▶ Chill, then fever and headache, ending at 4 P.M. in sweat; C., then heat, which causes shortness of breath and madness, so that he cannot remain quiet in bed. ▶ Coldness in back and icy-cold hands, although he took warm soup and his face and hands became hot. ▶ Heat at night, with headache, dyspnœa and inability to remain lying; H. in head and face, causing madness and anxiety. ▶ Copious sweat after the hot stage.