Cuprum Sulphuricum cupr-s.

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

Sulphate of Copper. Cu SO 4 5 H 2 O. Trituration.

Clinical

Alopecia. Diarrhœa. Dysentery. Eyes, granular lids; catarrhal and purulent conjunctivitis. Itch. Syphilis. Trachoma.

Characteristics

Sulphate of Copper is a well-known emetic and caustic. It causes forcible vomiting and much nausea. Paleness of face; or jaundiced appearance; pale skin generally; a peculiar diarrhœa; enlarged liver. J. D. Tyrrell ( Med. Adv ., xix. 14) mentions the case of a lady who could not use Cupr. sul . for "stamping" fancywork, because it "made her face hurt and swell so she could scarcely see, and her lips became everted, "turned inside out," she said." It is a well-known application in allopathic practice for stimulating flabby granulations, and it has cured itching eruptions, and manifestations of syphilis. Rest > pains.

Relations

It is antidoted by: Milk; eggs; pure yellow prussiate of potash. Compare: Kali bich. (cough) and Merc.

Mind

Anxiety; or great apathy. ─ Remarkable disturbance of mind, every utterance distorted.

Head

Bald spot over r. parietal bone, not depending on any discoverable cause.

Eyes

Twitching of closed lids. ─ Eyes stiff and dim.

Face

Lips pale, bluish, at corners and internal edges. ─ Face painful and swollen so she can scarcely see; lips turned inside out.

Mouth

Tongue cold; coated, bluish. ─ Greenish tint along free border of gums. ─ Burning in mouth and œsophagus in morning.

Stomach

Excessive nausea; forcible vomiting returning from time to time; vomits greenish-brown mucus. ─ Violent pain in stomach followed by faintness.

Abdomen

Tearing pains in hypochondria, on inspiration, painful to touch as if bruised. ─ Liver enlarged. ─ Abdomen drawn in.

Stool

Four pultaceous greenish-yellow stools, without the least trace of blood. ─ Stool pultaceous, brown-red, with streaks of blood and tenesmus during stool. ─ Constipation.

Respiratory Organs

Hacking cough which impedes respiration. ─ Croupy cough with very tenacious mucus.

Heart

Feeling as of a throbbing lump in heart internally, beating of heart seems louder; lasted five minutes and went away gradually.

Limbs

Limbs cold, nearly cyanotic. ─ Dull aching soreness in middle of tibia, when walking; > at rest; tenderness on pressure.

Skin

Pale, colourless. ─ Icterus. ─ Itching nodules on shoulders. ─ Itchiness; a kind of dry itch.

The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica

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

General

Sulphate of Copper. Cu SO 4 5H 2 O.
The pure sulphate of copper is prepared by trituration.
Fragmentary proving by Berridge.
Observation of a case of poisoning by Cup. sulph. made by Guerard, Allg. Hom. Ztg., v. 36, p. 14.
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Baldness , Kissel, Frank's Mag., v. 4, p. 137 ; Syphilis , 50 cases, Martin and Oberlin, Gaz. Méd. de Paris, April 10, 1880 ; Inveterate itch , Bayes.

Mind

Anxiety, or great apathy.
Remarkable disturbance of mind ; every utterance distorted.

Sensorium

All senses vanish.
Vertigo, with prostration of strength, and dim sight.

Inner head

Violent pain in forehead, with severe tensive pain at root of nose.
After rising from bed, pain like a tight, narrow band all round head (on a level with upper part of forehead) and feeling as if top of head would come off ; < laughing or stooping ; > by cold wind ; desire to be quiet.
Shooting inwards in temples at short intervals, the left being first affected, > by pressing temples with hands ; irritability of temper.
Crawling, dull sensation in vertex, as if going to sleep, with a pressing-down sensation, and stupefaction.
Throbbing and roaring in head.
Severe headache, in morning.

Outer head

Bald spot over right parietal bone, not depending upon any discoverable cause.

Sight and eyes

Eyes stiff and dim.
Eyes moving to and fro.
Icteric color of conjunctivæ.
Twitching of closed lids.
(OBS :) Trachoma ; granular lids ; catarrhal and purulent conjunctivitis.

Upper face

(OBS :) Face pale : emaciated, eyes sunken ; puffy, red, covered with great drops of sweat.

Lower face

Lips pale, bluish, at corners and internal edges.

Teeth and gums

Greenish tint along free borders of gums.

Taste, speech, tongue

Taste : sweetish ; bitter ; coppery ; metallic on waking.
Tongue : white furred ; coated, bluish, cold ; swollen, stiff, as if paralyzed.
Tongue small, white, rough.

Inner mouth

Burning in mouth and œsophagus in morning.
Sharp biting heat in mouth and throat.
Ulcer in the mouth, after fever.

Palate and throat

Tensive pain in mouth, pharynx, root of nose, and stomach.
Choking and contracting sensation in pharynx.
Throat painful and as if burnt.

Appetite, thirst. desires, aversions

Loss of appetite.
Great thirst ; want of thirst with sweat.
Thirst with sweat and oppression of chest.

Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting

Hiccough.
Excessive nausea ; qualmish nausea.
Vomiting forcible, returning from time to time.
Vomiting : of greenish-brown mucus ; of a bluish matter.
Nausea ; vomiting < after 5 A. M.

Scrobiculum and stomach

Pressure in pit of stomach.
Distension and fulness of stomach rather than pain.
Burning in stomach.
Violent pain in stomach followed by faintness.

Hypochondria

Tearing pains in hypochondria, on inspiration, painful on touch as if bruised.
Liver enlarged.

Abdomen and loins

Pain in epigastrium, sensitive to pressure.
Abdomen swollen, tender, and painful ; flat and painful ; drawn in.
Constant cutting, burning pain in bowels.
Enteritis.

Stools and rectum

Urging to stool.
Four pultaceous, greenish-yellow stools.
Vomiting, soon followed by paleness and cold sweat ; severe efforts at stool, alternating with vomiting, frequent attacks of unconsciousness, copious stools.
Diarrhœa of children.
(OBS :) Chronic diarrhœa with ulceration.

Urinary organs

No stool nor passage of urine for twelve hours.
Urine scanty and bloody.

Female sexual organs

(In sick :) Profuse catamenia with violent pains ; induced three successive times by bathing frosted feet in the solution.

Voice and larynx. trachea and bronchia

Voice husky or veiled.

Respiration

Rapid sobbing respiration ; breathing short and labored.
Respirations anxious and frequent ; 48-50 per minute.
Anxious and interrupted breathing.

Cough

Hacking cough impeding respiration.
Croupy cough with very tenacious mucus.

Inner chest and lungs

Anxiety and oppression in chest.
Pressive pain in chest.
Painful contraction of chest, < after drinking.
Tearing pains behind sternum, extending over several parts of chest.
Hæmoptysis.

Heart, pulse and circulation

Feeling as of a throbbing lump in heart internally, beating of heart seemed louder ; lasted five minutes, and went away gradually.
Sounds of heart weak and limited ; slight friction-sound at base.
Pulse : small, soft, or hard ; quick and small ; full and hard.

Neck and back

Uneasiness between shoulders.
Collection of wind pressing against back ; stiffness and pain on moving.

Lower limbs

Dull aching soreness in middle of tibia, when walking ; > at rest ; tenderness on pressure.
Formication in legs.
Great coldness of feet.

Limbs in general

Extremities cold, nails cyanotic.

Rest. position. motion

Rest : > pain in tibia.
Desire to be quiet : with headache.
Stooping : as if top of head would come off.
After rising from bed : pain as of tight band around head ; as if top of head would come off.
Inspiration : tearing pain in hypochondria.
Laughing : as if top of head would come off.
Moving : pain in back.
Walking : dull aching pain in tibia.

Nerves

Restless, throws himself about in bed.
Restlessness at night ; twitchings ; trembling in the limbs ; copious stools.
Frequent subsultus tendinum.
Lassitude, debility.

Sleep

Drowsiness, frequently interrupted by abdominal pains.

Time

Morning : headache ; burning in mouth and œsophagus.
After 5 A. M., vomiting.
At 5 P. M. : pains < with restlessness.
Night : restlessness.

Temperature and weather

Fire : sat near to > shivering.
Cold wind : > head.

Fever

Coldness beginning in small of back, going all over body, then suddenly going into legs, first left, then left, with shivering so that she sat near fire for a few minutes.
Skin cold ; shivering.
Internal, debilitating, exhausting heat.
Flashes of heat, with burning of soles.
Heat beginning on dorsa of feet, first left then right, then extending up anterior part of legs as far as knees ; lasted thirty minutes, then went off, leaving a sensation as if needles were pricking the parts for five minutes.
Chilliness, shuddering, heat and sweat rapidly following each other.
Cold sweat on forehead and extremities.
Copious sweat, without thirst.

Attacks, periodicity

Lasting five minutes ; palpitation ; pricking in feet and legs.
Lasting thirty minutes : heat of feet and legs.
Three successive times : profuse catamenia, induced by bathing feet in solution.
Rapidly following each other : stages of fever.
Frequent : subsultus tendinum.
At short intervals : shooting in temples.
From time to time : vomiting.
Chronic : diarrhœa.

Locality and direction

Left : shooting in temple.
Left to right : coldness in legs ; heat on feet and shins.
Right : bald spot on parietal bone.
Inward : shooting in temples.

Sensations

As of a tight narrow band round head ; as if top of head would come off ; as of going to sleep in vertex ; as if paralyzed, tongue ; as if burnt, throat ; as if bruised, hypochondria ; as of a throbbing lump in heart ; as if needles were pricking on feet and legs.
Pain : violent in forehead ; violent in stomach ; in epigastrium ; in abdomen ; in back.
Tearing : in hypochondria ; behind sternum.
Shooting : in temples.
Cutting : in bowels.
Pricking : as of needles on feet and legs.
Burning : in mouth and œsophagus ; in stomach ; in bowels ; of soles.
Dull aching : in tibia.
Pressure : in pit of stomach ; in chest.
Pressing down : in vertex.
Soreness : in tibia.
Tensive pain : at root of nose ; in mouth ; in pharynx ; in stomach.
Contraction : in pharynx ; of chest.
Choking : in pharynx.
Twitching : of closed lids.
Throbbing : in head.
Roaring : in head.
Dull sensation : in vertex.
Uneasiness : between shoulders.
Formication : in legs.
Crawling : in vertex.
Itching : nodules on shoulders ; on skin.
Heat : sharp biting, mouth and throat ; on dorsa of feet, up anterior part of legs to knees.
Coldness : of tongue ; of feet ; in small of back ; in legs ; of skin.

Tissues

(OBS :) Destroys flabby granulations and exerts a powerful excitant influence ; its solution acts more feebly, and is sometimes employed as a dressing for indolent ulcers.
(OBS :) Fifty patients, who showed various manifestations of syphilis, were cured by the copper sulphate ; the copper salt proved more efficacious and required less time for its beneficial action than did the mercury salts ; in a case of very grave syphilis, where mercury had proved useless, copper effected a rapid and complete cure.

Touch. passive motion. injuries

Touch : hypochondria painful.
Pressure : epigastrium sensitive ; tenderness in tibia.
Pressing temples : > shooting.

Skin

Skin pale ; icteric.
Itching nodules on shoulders.
Considerable itchiness ; a kind of dry itch.

Stage of life, constitution

Man, æt. 38, strong, healthy, had thick, shining, black hair ; baldness.

Relations

Antidoted by : milk, eggs ; pure yellow prussiate of potash.
Compare : Kali bich . in croupy cough, with tenacious mucous expectoration ; Mercur . in syphilis.