Apocynum Cannabinum apoc.

Boger's Synoptic Key — Materia Medica

C. M. Boger · Boger's Synoptic Key — Materia Medica · A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica, 1915 — the Materia Medica half

Region

URINARY ORGANS. Heart. Digestive tract. Uterus.

Worse

COLD: Weather. Drinks. Uncovering. Lying.

Better

Warmth.

General

Weak and dropsical. Scanty discharges. Irritation.

Particulars

Bewildered. Can't think. Faint. Thirst, but water distresses; vomits every drink. Uræmic vomiting. Sinking at epigastrium. Noisy, yellow, painless, gushing stools. Diarrhœa; with dropsy. Bed-wetting of old men. Enlarged prostate. Uterine hæmorrhage, then dropsy (Chin.). Oppression of chest. Rough, dry skin. Can't sweat. Sleepy. Pulse slow, fluttering, irregular or intermittent.

Related

Related: Chin-ar. Nux-v.

Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica

H. C. Allen · Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica · homeoint.org / Medi-T HTML text; edition not stated by the mirror (first edition 1898, Allen d. 1909)

Keynote

Excretions diminished, especially urine and sweat. Dropsy of serous membranes; acute, inflammatory. Dropsy: with thirst (Acet. ac.), water disagrees or is vomited (Ars.); most cases uncomplicated with organic diseases; after typhus, typhoid, scarlatina, cirrhosis; after abuse of quinine. Acute hydrocephalus, with open sutures; stupor, sight of one eye lost; constant and voluntary motion of one arm and one leg (left arm and leg, Bry.); forehead projected. Amenorrhoea in young girls, with bloating or dropsical extension of abdomen and extremities. Metorrhagia: continued or paroxysmal flow; fluid or clotted; nausea, vomiting, palpitation; pulse quick, feeble, when moved; vital depression, fainting, when raising head from pillow. Cough, short and dry, or deep and loose, during pregnancy (Con.).

Relations

Similar: to, Acetic Acid, Apis (no thirst), Ars., Cinch., Dig., in dropsical affections. Blatta orientalis has cured bad cases of general dropsy, after Apis, Apoc. and Dig. failed. - Haynes.

Key-Notes to the Materia Medica

Henry N. Guernsey · Key-Notes to the Materia Medica · homeoint.org / Médi-T HTML text (Guernsey d. 1885; public domain)

General

Characterized by dropsical conditions; uterine hæmorrhages.

Mental

Bewildered, low-spirited, stupid.

Head

Heaviness of the head, aching in small of back and limbs. Hydrocephalus; stupor, sight of one eye totally lost, the other nearly so; constant involuntary motion of one arm and leg.

Eyes

Sensation as if grains of sand were in one or both eyes, with heat, irritation and redness.

Nose

Catarrh of the; nostrils and throat are filled with thick, yellow mucus, on wakening in the morning. Snuffles.

Face

Face bloated; worse lying down, passes off on sitting up; color bluish or leaden.

Mouth

Increased secretion of mucus and saliva in mouth and fauces, amounting to salivation.

Stomach

Great thirst, but water disagrees, causing pain, or is immediately vomited. Nausea, with vomiting, or efforts to vomit. Sensation of sinking in the stomach.

Abdomen

Distension of the abdomen after a moderate dinner. Ascites, often with chronic diarrhœa.

Stool

Evacuations exceedingly scanty and very often bilious.

Urine

Very scanty; sometimes very profuse; is often very yellow and without sediment. Sometimes cures nocturnal enuresis.

Chest

Very great difficulty in breathing, even in a sitting posture; breath very short and unsatisfactory. Short, dry, hacking cough, sometimes incessant. Hydrothorax.

Heart and Pulse

Palpitation troublesome on walking; heart action scarcely perceptible. Pulse feeble, quick, irregular.

Extremities

Upper: Finger nails of bluish red color. Lower: aching in both knees. Œdema of feet, ankles and legs.

Sleep

Drowsiness, vomiting, weak, restlessness. After sleep; nausea; thirst; dry mouth and lips; sinking at the stomach; oppression of chest.

Fever

Body covered with large drops of cold sweat. Dropsy after scarlet fever; after abuse of quinine.

Sexual

Male: Penis and scrotum swollen, dropsical. Female: Ovarian tumors. Metrorrhagia continuous or paroxysmal fluid or clotted; nausea, vomiting, palpitation; pulse quick, feeble, when moved; fainting when raised from a pillow. Cough during pregnancy.

Generalities

Sense of general but transient debility.

Seven Hundred Red Line Symptoms from Materia Medica

J. W. Hutchison · Seven Hundred Red Line Symptoms from Materia Medica · rewritten from Hering's and other materia medicas

Red line symptom

In all varieties of dropsy, both idiopathic and secondary, especially when dependent upon disease of the liver.

Homœopathic Materia Medica

William Boericke · Homœopathic Materia Medica · 9th edition

Common name

Indian Hemp

General

Increases secretions of mucous and serous membranes and acts on cellular tissue, producing œdema and dropsy and on skin causing diaphoresis. Acute hydrocephalus. A diminished frequency of the pulse is a prime indication. This is one of our most efficient remedies, in dropsies, ascites, anasarca and hydrothorax, and urinary troubles, especially suppression and strangury. In the digestive complaints of Bright's disease, with the nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, difficult breathing, it will be found of frequent service. The dropsy is characterized by great thirst and gastric irritability. Arrhythmia. Mitral and tricuspid regurgitation. Acute alcoholism. Relaxation of sphincters.

Mind

Bewildered. Low spirited.

Nose

Long-continued sneezing. Snuffles of children (Sambucus). Chronic nasal catarrh with tendency to acute stuffiness with dull, sluggish memory. Dull headache. Takes cold easily, nostrils become congested and blocked up easily.

Stomach

Nausea, with drowsiness. Thirst on walking. Excessive vomiting. Food or water is immediately ejected. Dull, heavy, sick feeling. Oppression in epigastrium and chest, impeding breathing (Lobelia infl). Sensation of sinking in stomach. Abdomen bloated. Ascites.

Stool

Watery, flatulent, with soreness in anus; worse after eating. Feeling as if sphincter were open and stools ran right out.

Urine

Bladder much distended. Turbid, hot urine, with thick mucus and burning in urethra, after urinating. Little expulsive power. Dribbling. Strangury. Renal Dropsy.

Female

Amenorrhœa, with bloating; metrorrhagia with nausea; fainting, vital depression. Hæmorrhages at change of life. Blood expelled in large clots.

Respiratory

Short, dry cough. Respiratory short and unsatisfactory. Sighing. Oppression about epigastrium and chest.

Heart

Tricuspid regurgitation; rapid and feeble, irregular cardiac action, low arterial tension, pulsating jugulars, general cyanosis and general dropsy.

Sleep

Great restlessness and little sleep.

Modalities

Worse, cold weather; cold drinks; uncovering.

Relationship

Cymarin is the active principle of Apocyn, lowers pulse rate and increases blood-pressure. Strophanthus (extreme cardiac depression with intense gastric disturbance; dropsy). Aralia hispida-Wild Elder-a valuable diuretic, useful in dropsy of the cavities, either due to hepatic or renal disease with constipation. Urinary disorders, especially with dropsy. Scudder advises doses of five to thirty drops in sweetened cream of tartar, (Solution). Apis, Arsenic, Digital; Helleb.

Dose

Tincture (ten drops three times daily) and in acute alcoholism 1 dram of decoction in 4 oz water.

Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics

E. B. Nash · Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics · homeoint.org / Médi-T HTML text (Nash d. 1917; public domain)

Leaders

Great thirst, but water disagrees, causing pain, or is immediately thrown off; sinking feeling at pit of stomach (Dropsy.)

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica

John Henry Clarke · A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · 1st edition (1900-02, three volumes); homeoint.org / Médi-T HTML digitization

General

Indian (American) Hemp. N. O. Apocynaceæ. Provings were made with fresh plant-tinctures, or fresh or powdered root-tinctures or infusions. Watery infusions (with just enough spirit to keep them from fermenting) are said to be more efficacious than tinctures. The whole fresh plant, root included, should be used for making the tincture or infusion.

Clinical

Ascites. Catarrh. Coryza. Diabetes insipidus. Diarrhœa. Dropsies . Enuresis. Heart, affections of. Hydrocephalus. Menorrhagia. Metrorrhagia. Nausea. Neuralgia. Snuffles. Tobacco-heart. Urinary difficulties. Vomiting.

Characteristics

The clinical effects of Strophanthus and the symptoms produced on patients to whom it has been given in large doses, clearly show the relationship between it and Apocynum . Both produce intense gastric disturbance, extreme depression of the heart's action, and both control dropsical effusions and produce diuresis. Apo. c . depresses the heart, kidneys, and intestines, relaxing sphincters. It causes an intense sinking sensation; drowsiness and a bewildered state of mind. Dizziness. Hæmorrhages. The dropsies of Apocynum are general dropsies with or without organic disease; swelling of every part of the body; cardiac dropsies. The excretions are diminished, especially urine and sweat. Hydrocephalus has been cured with it: "Child lying in stupor, with constant involuntary motion of one arm and leg." "Paralysis of left side; one eye motionless, one rolling."

Three cases of neuralgia of the right side ─ groin, hip, and in one case region of right kidney ─ have been cured with this remedy. All were violent, extorting cries. In one case the pain set in very suddenly and the slightest jar aggravated. Hale says the kidneys are the peculiar seat of the operation of the drug, and that it is in renal dropsies that it is especially curative. It has cured diabetes insipidus with "a sense of sinking in the pit of the stomach with great debility." Hæmorrhages, especially menorrhagia, and hæmorrhages at the change of life have been cured with it. Hale has found it restore the menses when given in cases of dropsy.

Diarrhœa is < immediately after eating. Food or water is immediately ejected, though hungry. There is < on waking in the morning. Many of the symptoms are < after sleep.

Relations

Compare: Apoc. andr., Alstonia const., Strophanth., Acet. ac., Apis (thirstless in dropsies), Arsen., Bell., Bry., Chi., Colch., Digit. (dropsy; slow pulse), Elat., Helleb. (hydrocephalus; ascites); Alo., Gamb., and Trombid. (diarrhœa), K. ca., Lyc., Merc., Merc. sul., the Loganiaceæ ─ Nux v., Ignat., Curare; Spig., Scill., Sul., Verat.

Mind

Bewildered; nervous, low-spirited.

Head

Dizzy. ─ Very marked piercing pain in r. temple followed by vertigo. ─ Vertigo suddenly appearing and disappearing. ─ Hydrocephalus: stupor, sight of one eye totally lost, the other nearly so; forehead projecting; sutures open; stage of exudation.

Eyes

Eyes inflamed; < morning and evening. ─ As if sand in them.

Nose

Violent coryza. ─ Nose and throat filled with thick yellow mucus on waking in morning. ─ ("Snuffles" in infants.). ─ Peculiar dryness of mucous membranes of nose with sensation of stiffness, followed by secretion of thick yellow mucus, preceded in some cases by a thin, irritating discharge.

Face

Face pale, covered with cold sweat (diarrhœa). ─ Dry lips.

Mouth

Dry tongue, immoderate thirst. ─ Tongue coated. ─ Constant spitting, increase of mucus and saliva.

Stomach

Thirst on waking. ─ Great thirst; but water disagrees, causing pain, and is immediately thrown off (Ars.). ─ Cannot tolerate food or drink, which is immediately ejected. ─ Distension after a moderate meal. ─ Feels hungry, but when she eats it settles in epigastrium, turns sour, and hurts. ─ Extreme epigastric sinking. ─ Oppression at epigastrium and chest excessive, can hardly, get breath enough to smoke a cigar. ─ Ascites, often with chronic diarrhœa.

Stool and Anus

Gentle diarrhœa in the morning, no pain. ─ Diarrhœa explosive, involuntary immediately after eating. ─ Stool copious, yellow or brownish, like mush; sometimes containing undigested food. ─ Extreme prostration after stool. ─ Constipation though fæces not hard. ─ Piles with feeling as of a wedge being hammered into anus. ─ Tenesmus of rectum. ─ Bearing-down pain in anus. ─ Evacuations very scanty. ─ Watery stools. ─ Symptoms always immediately after eating.

Urinary Organs

Urinary organs torpid, urine scanty, but flows as easily as oil. ─ Severe expulsive pains of bladder. ─ Urine copious and almost involuntary from relaxed sphincters. ─ Profuse light-coloured urine; no sediment. ─ Enuresis.

Male Sexual Organs

Penis and scrotum swollen, dropsical.

Female Sexual Organs

Exhausting menorrhagia (continuous or paroxysmal). ─ Blood expelled in large clots, sometimes in fluid state. ─ Amenorrhœa in young girls; abdomen and legs bloated.

Respiratory Organs

Oppression; can scarcely speak; speaks in sharp staccato; must take deep breaths. ─ Violent hoarse cough, < at night. ─ Hæmoptysis. ─ Cough short and dry, loose and rattling with oppression. ─ Short, unsatisfactory respirations.

Heart

Flutterings, dartings, prostrated feeling in cardiac region. ─ Quick, sharp, catching pain in heart with palpitation. ─ Pulse slow, laboured. ─ Irregular, intermittent, at times feeble, then slow. ─ Pulse quick, feeble when moved. ─ Fainting on moving the head. ─ Palpitation troublesome on walking; heart action scarcely perceptible.

Limbs

Rheumatic condition. ─ Joints stiff, esp. on moving in the morning. ─ Constant involuntary motion of one leg and one arm.

Upper Limbs

Finger nails of bluish red colour.

Lower Limbs

Aching in both knees. ─ Œdema of feet, ankles, and legs.

Generalities

Excretions diminished, esp. urine and sweat.

Sleep

Drowsy in afternoon, restless at night. ─ Stupor. ─ On going to bed desire to sleep, but inability to do so. ─ Drowsy before and after nausea and vomiting.

Fever

Body covered with large drops of cold sweat. ─ Dropsy after scarlet fever; after abuse of quinine.

The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica

Constantine Hering · The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica · 1879–91

Mind

Bewildered.
Feels as if she could do nothing but cry ; don't want to speak, very low spirited.
Low-spirited and nervous. θ Ascites and chronic diarrhœa.
Stupor. θ Hydrocephalus.

Sensorium

Dizzy in head.

Inner head

Pain in forehead in morning. θ Ophthalmia.
Frontal headache, sick at stomach, restless at night.
Heaviness of head, evenings ; aching in small of back and limbs.
Hydrocephalus ; stupor, sight of one eye totally lost, the other slightly sensible ; constant involuntary motion of one arm and leg ; forehead projecting ; sutures open. θ Stage
of exudation.
Hydrocephalus acutus.
Dizzy headache.

Outer head

Forehead projecting, sutures open. θ Hydrocephalus.

Sight and eyes

Sight of one eye totally lost, the other slightly sensible. θ Hydrocephalus.
Heat, redness of eye, feeling as of sand in eye ; early in morning.
Eyes inflamed ; worse morning and evening.
Pressure in right eye as if pressed outward.
Fine stitches in right eye.

Smell and nose

Violent irritation of Schneiderian membrane, resembling a severe attack of coryza.
Cold in head.
Nostrils and throat filled with thick, yellow mucus, on waking in morning.
Nose stopped up.

Upper face

Face expressive of much anguish. θ Dropsy.
Face bloated after lying down ; passes off after sitting up.
Face bloated ; of a bluish lead color, also lips. θ Heart disease.
Face much swollen. θ Hydrothorax.

Lower face

Dry lips ; if taken in evening this is the first symptom the next morning.

Taste, speech, tongue

Taste bitter, sub-acrid, in fauces.
Tongue greatly coated, brownish-white.
Tongue dry, immoderate thirst. θ Hydrothorax.

Inner mouth

Dryness of mouth on awaking ; thirst.
Constantly spitting ; increased secretion of mucus and saliva in mouth and fauces.

Palate and throat

Thick yellow mucus in throat in morning ; unpleasant degree of heat.
Pressure on right side of throat.

Appetite, thirst. desires, aversions

Great thirst. θ Hydrothorax.
Great thirst, but water disagrees, causing pain, or is immediately thrown off. θ Dropsy.
Thirst on waking.

Eating and drinking

Distension about stomach and hypochondria after a moderate meal.
Feels as if she was hungry, and when she tries to eat, it settles in epigastrium, turns sour and hurts her.

Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting

Nausea after sleep.
Violent vomiting, with prostration and drowsiness, cold skin.
Distressing vomiting at intervals. θ Menorrhagia.
Patient becomes very drowsy and vomits very often ; pulse slow.
Considerable gastric disturbance. θ After scarlet fever.

Scrobiculum and stomach

Sense of oppression about epigastrium and chest, so that there was the greatest difficulty in getting breath enough to smoke a cigar, or to speak with any comfort, and this happened after lighter meals than ordinary.
Sinking at stomach on awaking.
Stomach so irritable, not even a draught of water can be retained. θ Dropsy.
Great irritability of stomach and vomiting. θ Menorrhagia.
Congestion of liver, of portal system ; followed by ascites.

Abdomen and loins

Abdomen very much distended and painful. θ Ascites.
Bloated abdomen and limbs. θ Amenorrhœa.
Ascites.
Ascites with chronic diarrhœa.
Decided distension of abdomen, especially after a moderate dinner ; all the sense of fulness seemed about stomach, liver and spleen, while lower bowels did not appear more flatulent than common.

Stools and rectum

Evacuations very scanty.
Bilious stools ; loose, but not very copious.
Bowels sluggish, but feces not hard or costive.

Urinary organs

Dull aching pain in kidneys, with increased secretion of straw-colored urine, sinking at stomach, dry mouth, sighing.
Very peculiar torpid action of kidneys.
Decided scantiness of urine.
Scanty urine. θ Hydrothorax.
Urinary difficulties. θ Dysuria. θ Strangury.
Urine diminished to one-third of usual quantity.
Retention of urine, with paralysis of lower extremities.
Urine light, or sherry-colored, no sediment on cooling.
Very profuse light-colored urine, several gallons a day.
Urine high-colored and very scanty. θ After scarlet fever.
Urine high-colored, diminished in quantity, and voided with difficulty. θ Ascites.
Urine diminished to one-third the usual amount, without pain or uneasiness about kidneys or bladder ; on contrary, chest organs seemed remarkably comfortable ; they seemed simply torpid.
The little water that was passed flowed as easily as if it were oil.
Urine suppressed. θ Meningitis infantum.
A most inveterate case of wetting the bed at night, in a girl.

Male sexual organs

Penis and scrotum swollen. θ Heart disease.

Female sexual organs

Ovarian tumors.
Very profuse flow of blood, preceded for a day or two by a moderate discharge. θ Menorrhagia.
Discharge fluid and abundant. θ Menorrhagia.
Hemorrhage ceasing at intervals, always recurred when vital powers rallied. θ Menorrhagia.
Most exhausting menorrhagia for about six weeks.
Blood expelled in large clots, sometimes in fluid state. θ Menorrhagia.
The moderate flow of catamenia for a day or two suddenly sets in with such violence that she cannot be out of bed. θ Menorrhagia.
Shreds or pieces of membrane, with fluid blood. θ Menorrhagia.
Amenorrhœa in young girls ; abdomen and legs bloated.
Metrorrhagia continual or paroxysmal ; fluid or clotted ; nausea, vomiting, palpitation ; pulse quick, feeble, when moved ; fainting, when raising head from pillow.

Pregnancy. parturition. lactation

Cough during pregnancy, sometimes short and dry, sometimes deep and loose ; if very deep, it pains in stomach.

Voice and larynx. trachea and bronchia

Could not utter a syllable, although perfectly conscious ; answering by signs. θ Hydrothorax.
Unpleasant heat of larynx and fauces.
Hoarseness.

Respiration

Sighing.
Short respiration.
Could scarcely speak for want of breath. θ Heart disease.
Could only breathe in a sitting posture, with head thrown forward. θ Hydrothorax.
Panting for breath. θ Heart disease.
Oppression of chest on awaking.
Oppression about epigastrium and chest, difficulty in getting breath enough to speak ; after a light meal. θ Hydrothorax.
Irresistible disposition to sigh.
Agonizing difficulty of breathing. θ Dropsy.
Short and unsatisfactory respiration.
Gasping for breath. θ Hydrothorax.
Difficult breathing, entirely unable to remain in a recumbent position.
Dropsy.
Great dyspnœa, wheezing breathing and cough ; could walk with great difficulty. θ Dropsy of pericardium.

Cough

Dry cough, with scanty expectoration.
Short, dry cough.
Cough dry, hacking, suffocative, and incessant. θ Hydrothorax.
Cough < at night.
Violent attack of a hoarse cough at night, with vomiting.
Short cough, alternating with a deep cough.
Loose rattling, with oppression of chest.
Scanty expectoration of white mucus.
Hemorrhage from lungs.

Inner chest and lungs

Oppression on left chest.
Stitches in right chest.
Hydrothorax. θ After scarlet fever.
Hydrothorax and anasarca depending on organic disease of heart.

Heart, pulse and circulation

Palpitation very troublesome whenever she attempted to move about house. θ Menorrhagia.
Dropsy of pericardium ; heart's action scarcely perceptible ; face bloated and anxious looking.
Very feeble, with a quick pulse.
Small weak pulse. θ Hydrothorax.
Pulse 45 between attacks of vomiting ; feeble. θ Menorrhagia.
Pulse small and irregular. θ Ascites.
Pulse weak and irregular. θ After scarlet fever.
Almost pulseless and disposed to faint whenever she attempted to raise her head from pillow. θ Menorrhagia.

Neck and back

Slight soreness in region of kidneys when bringing muscles into action.

Upper limbs

Finger nails of bluish lead color. θ Heart disease.

Lower limbs

Stiff knees.
Hard aching in both knees ; fears inflammatory rheumatism.
Œdema of feet and ankles, general dropsy ; also after typhus.
Lower extremities, penis, scrotum and abdomen swollen. θ Heart disease.
The whole left leg is contracted.
Pain in ball of right big toe.

Limbs in general

Constant involuntary motion of one leg and one arm. θ Hydrocephalus.
General stiffness of legs and body, can scarcely bend.
Weakness of limbs.
Itching on limbs.
Pains in arms and legs.

Rest. position. motion

Had to be supported in sitting posture in bed. θ Dropsy.
Could not lie down. θ Dropsy of pericardium.
Region of kidneys sore on using muscles.
Raising head : fainting.
Lying : face bloated ; > sitting up ; cannot lie, dropsy.
Moving about house : palpitation <.
Walks with great difficulty. θ Dropsy of pericardium.

Nerves

General restlessness.
Involuntary motions of one arm and leg. θ Hydrocephalus.
Greatly debilitated, pulse feeble and quick. θ Menorrhagia.
Disposition to faint ; vital powers much depressed. θ Menorrhagia.

Sleep

Drowsy in afternoon, restless in night.
On going to bed desire for sleep ; with inability to sleep.
Drowsiness ; vomiting, weak.
Stupor.
Restlessness ; little sleep.
After sleep : nausea ; thirst ; dry mouth and lips ; sinking at stomach ; oppression of chest.

Time

Morning : pains in forehead ; heat, redness, feeling of sand in eye ; yellow mucus in nostrils and throat ; dry lips and mouth.
Evening : heaviness of head ; aching in back and limbs ; eyes more inflamed ; going to bed, skin hot.
Night : restless ; wetting the bed ; violent attack of cough.

Temperature and weather

From a cold, during a sleigh-ride, after flow of catamenia had set in, menorrhagia lasting four and a half weeks.

Fever

Heat of skin on going to bed.
Sweat ; when skin moistens, dropsy improves.
Clammy sweat. θ Hydrothorax.
Body covered with large drops of cold sweat. θ Heart disease.

Attacks, periodicity

Paroxysmal menorrhagia.

Locality and direction

Right : outward pressure in eye ; fine stitches in eye ; pressure in throat ; stitches in chest ; pain in ball of big toe.
Left : oppression on chest ; contraction of leg.

Sensations

Feels as if she could do nothing but cry ; as if right eye was pressed outward ; feeling as of sand in eye.
Stitches : fine, in right eye ; in right chest.
Aching : in small of back and limbs ; in kidneys ; in both knees.
Soreness : in region of kidneys.
Pressure : as if right eye was pressed outward ; on right side of throat.
Undefined pain : in forehead ; caused by drinking water ; in distended abdomen ; in stomach, from deep cough ; in ball of right big toe ; in arms and legs.
Fulness : about stomach.
Heaviness : in head.
Oppression : about epigastrium and chest.
Dryness : of lips ; of mouth ; of skin.
Heat : of left eye ; in fauces and larynx ; of skin.
Itching : on limbs.
Weakness : of limbs.

Tissues

Excretions diminished, especially urine and sweat.
Dropsy of serous membranes.
Acute inflammatory dropsy.
Dropsy : with great thirst, but water causes pain or is vomited ; after typhus, scarlatina, cirrhosis ; mostly uncomplicated with organic disease.
General dropsy after scarlet fever.
Rheumatic stiffness.

Skin

Skin dry and harsh. θ Ascites.
Skin cold, with vomiting.
Skin hot, evening going to bed.

Stage of life, constitution

Woman, æt. 24, mother of three children, black hair and eyes, fair complexion, disposed to uterine hemorrhage.
Woman, æt. 40, mother of several children, a hard worker, dark complexion, dark eyes and black hair ; menorrhagia.
Women with amenorrhœa.
A girl ; θ enuresis.

Relations

Concordances : Acet. ac . ; Apis (which has no thirst in dropsies) ; Arsen . ; Bellad. ; Bryon. ;
Cinchon. ; Colchic. ; Digit . (dropsy ; slow pulse) ; Elat . ; Helleb . (hydrocephalus, ascites, etc.) ; Kali carb. ; Lycop. ;
Mercur. ; Merc. sulph. ; Scilla ; Sulphur ; Veratr. alb .
Dropsy after abuse of quinine.

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica

James Tyler Kent · Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica · homeoint.org / Séror HTML text (Kent d. 1916; public domain)

Lecture

This remedy comes in as a good one to contrast with Apis. You will find it analogous in its symptoms and much like the complaints cured by Apis.

You will be astonished in going over the dropsical condition, the rheumatic condition, the tumefaction of the cellular tissues, the dropsy of the sacs, the scanty urine resulting in dropsy; the inflammatory swellings with oedema, at the great resemblances; and if you were to start in with two cases and work them out from their particulars, and if one feature were left out, the aggravation and the amelioration, the cold and the heat, in many cases you would not be able to distinguish between Apis and Apocynum, so near alike are their swellings, their bleedings, their distensions, and their disturbances.

Both are remedies for dropsy; routinists will try first Apis, and then they try Apocynum, and then they will try something else that is good for dropsy.

But all the way through this medicine is aggravated from cold, the patient himself is aggravated from cold. His complaints are worse from cold applications. In his distended, dropsical state, he is chilly, sensitive to air. He is sensitive to cold drinks.

He has a pain in the stomach, and even vomits, from cold drinks. Pain in the abdomen from cold drinks. Uneasiness here and there in the body when cold things are in the stomach; you see at once how different that is from Apis.

Anyone who follows symptom hunting and does not distinguish between circumstances that relate to the patient and modalities that relate to symptoms cannot appreciate these two grand distinctions, where the one patient is aggravated from heat and the other one ameliorated by heat, in all complaints.

The excretions are all diminished. The urine is scanty. The skin is dry. No matter what his complaints are, he cannot sweat. He feels if he could only perspire he would get well. There is no out throw of water. He drinks plentifully, and it goes in-to the cellular tissues to distend them, and he becomes dropsical.

He has a water constitution, one that takes in water and lets out none. He passes little water, and he perspires scantily or none at all; his skin is dry, sometimes hot, yet he is chilly.

The skin feels husky and rough, but he is chilly. Apis suffers dreadfully from dry skin, from scanty urine; yet Apis is aggravated everywhere from heat and ameliorated from cold. That is the grand distinguishing feature in the dropsies and rheumatisms and many internal complaints.

"Dropsy of serous membranes."

Dropsy of the brain, pericardium, pleura, peritoneum; all of these are distended with serum. And there is great suffering, great uneasiness.

The inflammatory rheumatism is again like Apis, in that it takes on dropsy with it. Inflammation of the joints, of the ankles, joints, of the toes, of the fingers, inflammation of the joints all over the body.

The swelling about the joint pits upon pressure like Apis. But with the scanty urine, want of sweat, with the febrile condition, he is all the time chilly, and wants the parts well wrapped where Apis wants them uncovered. One might say,

"Why, that is only one symptom."

All who do not perceive the difference between symptoms predicated of the patient and symptoms predicated of the parts will see that as only one symptom with the rest of them. When he takes up a case and works it out in the Repertory he will use it as one symptom. Yet that feature will sometimes rule out all the rest, because it is predicated of the patient and not predicated alone of his parts.

We have many remedies where the patient himself is ameliorated from heat. He wants to be in the heat, he wants to be warm, and yet he wants cold applied to the part. But that which is the general is the ruling feature, and if we do not know and distinguish the things that are general from the things that are particular, we get our Materia Medica mixed up. We must distinguish the things that belong to the patient himself from the things that belong to his parts.

"Dropsy, with great thirst."

Dropsy

This is a great medicine for the low forms of disease, such as typhoid and scarlet fever, and is useful after lingering sicknesses. Patients become greatly prostrated, very chilly, very anaemic, have great thirst, the urine becomes scanty, the skin becomes dry.

It is a bad convalescence; he has not recovered. Dropsy sets in; dropsy after scarlet fever, dropsy after typhoid fever. A low form of disease, like typhoid fever, has kept him in bed for four or five weeks, and he is emaciated and prostrated, and now he does not gain flesh, he has no appetite, but he drinks copiously; he seems to want nothing but water.

His skin commences to distended, fills up, and becomes dropsical. That is like Apis, and Apis would be indicated provided he was always hot, and wanted to be uncovered, and wanted cold things.

Mind

The mental symptoms of this remedy have not been brought out.

We only know a few clinical symptoms, and they are of little importance. It has cured that peculiar kind of stupor belonging to hydrocephalus, but we do not know what kind of a primary case of brain disease this remedy would fit, because of lack of provings.

We only know the condition after it has existed for a long time, that is, for weeks; rolling the head and tossing about, and he is greatly emaciated. The little one has chills and fever along with it, and his skull is beginning to distend, the fontanelles are growing wider; then we begin to think of some of those remedies capable of curing dropsy in the shut sacs, and this is one of them. But we do not know the beginning. We do know the beginning of Apis, but not of this remedy.

Hahnemann's provings are full of particulars.

He cross-examined his provers as to their modalities, the time their symptoms began, and where they ended.

Many of the symptoms he felt upon himself, because he proved many remedies. Hahnemann had a sensitive constitution and deep perception, and his provings gave him an insight into medicines that he could not have obtained in any other way.

Those who prove medicines properly, conscientiously, prudently, learn more about materia Medica than anyone else.

They become inured to hardship and live longer thereform. They are hardened to their environnements, to their atmosphere, to their associates and their surroundings.

They are made better and they may be able to perceive something of what Hahnemann perceived.

But now-a-days provings are made and nothing recorded but common symptoms, that in stomachache, nausea, headache, pain in the back, cold feet. Many of our remedies are not proved much further than that.

What, when and how much, are left out. The modalities are left out, The finer sensations are not described because they are considered emotional.

"Low-spirited and bewildered. Feels as if she could do nothing but cry."

We do not know the affections of either the male or the female. We do not know the desires or aversions, mental or physical; and hence it may that this is only, a partial proving and suitable only for those complaints that show themselves upon the surface.

"Hydrocephalus, with great stupor."

That is the last stage of it where there is great prostration, loss of flesh, stiffness of all the limbs, with dropsical swellings. Many times in hydrocephalus pains shoot along the nevers and attack the joints.

Then it is that such remedies as Apis and Calc. carb. and this one take hold with wonderful depth. The first permanent and substantial indication - that the remedy is working in a hydrocephaloid case is that it increases the flow of urine, which has been scanty all the time.

For hydrocephalus study Tuberculinum.

Face

The expression of the face is that of anguish.

"Face bloated, puffed, swollen. Bloating under the eyes. Pitting upon pressure. Tongue dry; great thirst."

There is another remedy that comes into this sphere that will be very often misunderstood, too, and will be likely in most instances to be given before this remedy. It is Ars.

It has all the dropsical. conditions of Apis and Apocynum. It has all the coldness and distension of the abdomen and of the shut sacs. It, too, is ameliorated in all of its symptoms, and the patient himself is ameliorated, from heat, and intense heat is required for that purpose.

He wants to be in a very hot room, but it has something else. It has a deathly prostration, a deathly anxiety and terrible restlessness, not found in either of these remedies. It has also such a cadaveric odor, discovered on entering the room, which is not common to either of these remedies.

In this way we have to take up our medicines and study them only one at a time, but we have also to study them by comparison.

The medicines that are similar in generals have to be compared as to heat and cold.

In that way we get a list of those that are ameliorated by cold and list of those that are ameliorated by heat and another nondescript list not ameliorated by either. That is the starting point, and we have to divide and sub-divide these, and so on.

"Thick, yellow mucus in the throat. Great thirst. Stiffness in the thoracis region. Fullness. A sense of distension."

You will think a moment and see that filling up the pleural cavity does not cause very much outward distension, because the ribs prevent it. They form a wall, and hence the growth or distension is towards the lungs, and downward towards the diaphragm. By this means we get increasing dyspnoea, with cough. This medicine, like Apis, must sit up; cannot lie down.

You will find it is a common-feature in hydrothorax for the patient to be compelled to sit up. because lying down increases the pressure upon the lungs and narrows the breathing space; and hence, he must sit up in order to let this heavy water-bag, the pleural sac, hang down, against the diaphragm, and that produces pressure in the abdomen and distension of the bowels.

"Thirst on waking. Thirsty all day. Great thirst but water disagrees."

He likes cold water, but it so disagrees with his stomach, causing pain in the stomach, or causing him to vomit before it even gets warm, or causing distension, or causing uneasiness, so that he dreads to take cold drinks. He is more comforted by hot drinks. Warm drinks warm him up, make him more comfortable, cold drinks aggravate. Yet his thirst is for cold.

Then come distension and vomiting. You will find patients so distended in all their cellular tissues with a general anasarca that it seems that no more water can be taken from the stomach into the blood. He is full.

The blood vessels are distended, his stomach is distended and he must vomit; and with this distension of his whole body he drinks and vomits. It is with difficulty he can eat; cannot keep it down; it will not digest. From this comes a part of these symptoms.

"Sense of pressure in the epigastrium, in the chest," so that it is almost impossible for him to get breath enough to move.

Very little food makes him feel distended. He wakes up and wants something in his stomach. There is a gnawing hunger, but every little thing, even a mouthful, makes him feel distended. His stomach is already full of water and he vomits up great quantities of water, of bile, and of undigested substances that he has swallowed.

The stomach finally, in dropsical conditions, becomes very irritable. It seems as if nothing passes through him, He finally becomes paralyzed in the bowels. The kidneys are not acting, and scarcely any urine passes. The tongue becomes inflamed. The mucous membranes are all inflamed, and probably the stomach is. Abdomen very much distended; dropsy of the abdomen.

The another phase comes on. It seems that one by one each organ ceases to perform its functions.

The ovaries and uterus fail to perform their functions, and amenorrhoea comes on with dropsical conditions. Many times this seems to be the beginning of such troubles; a failure of these organs to perform their functions, and then dropsy sets in.

A woman passes along to a low state of weakness and nervous excitement, no menstrual flow, tenderness of the abdomen, distension of the abdomen, and then distension of the limbs.

Apocynum has been a curative remedy in diarrheic conditions alternating with dropsy. Sometimes a diarrhea will set in and all the other troubles go away. The diarrhea is copious, yellow, watery and involuntary. 1 once knew large doses to be given in a case of dropsy, and it established its own peculiar diarrhea and while that diarrhea lasted the enlarged spleen and the dropsical condition of the body all went away apparently, to the doctor, in a natural manner.

It was brought to my observation, and I said, "Wait." Finally he was brought to stop, the poisoning by Apocynum, and heart failure followed at once. A similar effect is to be seen from the allopathic use of Digitalis.

The time comes when the doctor will be compelled to stop Digitalis, and the patient dies of heart failure; Digitalis is never charged with the death, and the doctor never seems to learn that Digitalis will kill.

Everywhere the functions are impaired, in the skin, the kidneys, bowels, uterus, and all tends toward the formation of dropsy.

Urinary troubles are exceedingly troublesome. Scanty urine accompanies many complaints among the early symptoms. Retention of urine; painful micturition; urging to pass urine constantly.

The bladder is sometimes only partially full, but he cannot pass urine.

"Retention with great urging."

"Paralysis of the extremities. Urging to urinate."

Numbness, tingling in the extremities, and finally entire loss of power. Some patients remain this way for a while, and finally dropsy will set in. It has alternating conditions, as I have mentioned; dropsies, alternating with copious discharges.

The dropsy may be relieved with copious watery discharges from the bowels or by copious spasmodic action of the kidneys, the urine being so profuse that he can hardly realize where so much water comes from. All at once it ceases.

The urine becomes scanty, and then the tissues fill with serum, and the dropsical condition progresses. These conditions cease after a while, and the heart fails.

"Urine diminishes to one-third its usual amount, without pain or uneasiness about the kidneys or bladder. Urine suppressed. No urine at all in brain affections."

It was a routine medicine once, given to all children for wetting the bed, and as it cured many it must have that symptom, but that is a clinical symptom. It is not surprising, seeing its action is so marked upon the bladder, that it has cured involuntary passage of urine.

"Dropsy of the genital organs."

I have mentioned the suppression of the menstrual flow, the amenorrhoea, but it has also a marked hemorrhagic tendency. It will establish haemorrhage anywhere, but especially from the uterus. Copious haemorrhage. The menstrual flow may become copious, too frequent, last too long; but it will also establish a uterine haemorrhage at another time. It will cause the patient to bleed so copiously that she becomes anaemic from uterine haemorrhage; and then will follow dropsy.

The old practitioners were in the habit of giving China in most instances where dropsy followed a haemorrhage. It was so generally useful, and so commonly relieved, that they seldom used any other remedy.

But Apocynum is also a remedy for dropsy following haemorrhage. Many times it will fit the symptoms clearly in dropsy following haemorrhage.

"Prolonged menorrhagia, or haemorrhage from the uterus for six weeks. Blood expelled in large clots, sometimes in a fluid state."

Moderate flow for a day or two; suddenly sets in with such violence that she cannot be out of bed. Compels her to lie quietly.

"Shreds, or pieces of membrane with the fluid blood. Menorrhagia continuing, or paroxysmal," that is, a continuous flow until the patient is exhausted.

That is like Phos. and Ipecac. and Secale. In most instances, a uterine haemorrhage will cease after about so much blood has been lost. In medicines where the flow is so liquid as it is in this medicine that tendency to cease does not come until a state of profound exhaustion has come on.

Then the dyspnoea, as has been described, will not permit the patient to lie down. This is commonly from hydrothorax. It has also a hypostatic congestion of the lungs in patients that have been sitting up a long time, so that it fills up from below, gradually creeping up so that a large portion of the breathing space is destroyed.

"Great oppression about the epigastrium. Difficult breathing. Gasping for breath. Wheezing and coughing."

It has all the rattling that is found in Tartar emetic and Tartar emetic has a similar filling up of the chest, cannot lie down.

Pulse small and irregular; almost pulseless. Disposed to faint whenever she attempts to raise her head from the pillow. Small weak pulse. Dropsy of the pericardium. Palpitation very troublesome.