Rheum rheum.

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

Muscles of: Bile ducts. Duodenum. Intestines. Liver.

Worse

Dentition. Eating. Summer. Nursing women.

Better

Warmth. Wrapping up.

General

Sour, impatient, colicky children, who are always screaming and crying. Sour taste, vomitus, stools, sweat, etc.

Particulars

Offensive mucus in mouth, after sleep. Difficult teething. Loathing after first bite. Colic with cries; > doubling up, < uncovering any part; then pappy, sour, brown, green, fermented, slimy or acrid stools; with shivering; < eating unripe fruit; < evening. Burning in bladder. Sleep, restless; with whining, cries and twitching of face, fingers, etc. Sopping, wet hair. Sweat on scalp, about nose, mouth or on upper lip.

Related

Complementary: Mag-c. Related: Cham.

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

Suitable for children, especially during dentition. Sour smell of the whole body; child smells sour, even after washing or bathing (Hep., Mag. c.). Screaming of children with urging and sour stools. Children cry and toss about all night (Psor.). Child impatient, desires many things, and cries; dislikes even favorite playthings (Cina, Staph.). Sweat of scalp, constant, profuse; whether asleep or awake, quiet or in motion, the hair is always wet; may or may not be sour (Cal., Sanic.). Difficult dentition; child restless, irritable, peevish, with pale face and sour smell (Kreos., Cham.). Desires various kinds of food but cannot eat them, become repugnant. Colic: < at once by uncovering an arm or leg; with every sour stool; < when standing; not > by stool.

Relations

Complementary: after Magn. c., when milk disagrees and child has sour odor. Compare: Cham., Col., Hep., Ipec., Magn. c., Pod., Staph., Sulph. May be given after abuse of Magnesia with or without rhubarb, if stools are sour.

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

We use this remedy most particularly for sour smelling children; stools, vomit, breath, all smell sour. Before or during stool there are colicky pains about the umbilicus; straining before stool, and finally voided with ease; infants who cry a great deal with colic, in the night; tenesmus without stool.

Affections of the left side of the body. Sensation of crepitation in any part of the body. Perspiration on upper part of the body.

Remedies following

Bellad., Pulsat., Rhus tox., Sulphur.

Antidote

Camphor.

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

Appetite for various things, but cannot eat them, they become repulsive. Diarrhoea; stools brown and of an excessively sour smell, with much colic. The child smells sourish, oven if washed or bathed every day.

Homœopathic Materia Medica

William Boericke · Homœopathic Materia Medica · 9th edition

Common name

Rhubarb (RHEUM)

General

Of frequent use in children with sour diarrhœa; difficult dentition. Whole child smells sour.

Mind

Impatient and vehement; desires many things and cries (Cina).

Head

Sweat on hairy scalp; constant and profuse. Cool sweat on the face, especially about mouth and nose.

Mouth

Much saliva. Sensation of coolness in teeth. Difficult teething; restless and irritable. Breath smells sour (Cham).

Stomach

Desire for various kinds of food, but soon tires of all. Throbbing in pit. Feels full.

Abdomen

Colicky pain about navel. Colic when uncovering. Wind seems to rise up to chest.

Rectum

Before stool, unsuccessful urging to urinate. Stools smell sour, pasty, with shivering and tenesmus, and burning in anus. Sour diarrhœa during dentition. Colicky, even ineffectual urging to evacuate altered fecal stools.

Modalities

Worse, uncovering, after eating, moving about.

Relationship

Compare: Mag phos; Hep; Pod; Cham; Ipec.

Antidotes: Camph; Cham.

Complementary: Mag carb.

Dose

Third to sixth potency.

Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics

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

Leaders

Is another remedy which like Jalapa, has been abused by the old school, but is very valuable when used homœopathically. The leading indication is sour stools. They may be brown mixed with mucus, or thin and pasty. There is often much pain before the stool, of a colicky nature, and there may be tenesmus after stool. It is most useful in colicky diarrhœa of children. There is another very characteristic symptom, viz.,: "Not only the stools are sour; the whole child smells sour, no matter how much it is bathed." In colic and diarrhœa during dentition a choice will sometimes have to be made between this remedy and Magnesia carb.

Text Book of Materia Medica

Adolph Lippe · Text Book of Materia Medica · homeoint.org / Médi-T HTML text (Lippe d. 1888; public domain)

Mind and Disposition

Restlessness, with inclination to weep. The child demands various things with vehemence and weeping. Indolent and taciturn.

Head

Heaviness in the head, with heat rising to it. Dull, stupefying headache, with bloated eyes. Pulsation in the head, ascending from the abdomen.

Eyes

Pulsation in the eyes. Swimming eyes, full of water, especially in the open air. Contracted pupils. Convulsive twitching of the eyelids. Eyes weak and dull, especially when looking intensely on an object.

Ears

Pulsation in the ears. Dulness of hearing, as from relaxation of the tympanum.

Nose

Stupefying drawing in the root of the nose, extending to the tip of the nose, where it tingles.

Face

Tension of the skin of the face. The muscles of the forehead are drawn together and wrinkled. Cool perspiration in the face, especially around the nose and mouth.

Mouth and Throat

Painful sensation of coldness in the teeth, with accumulation of much saliva. Difficult dentition of children. The tongue becomes numb and insensible.

Stomach and Abdomen

Aversion to coffee if not exceedingly sweetened. Hunger without appetite. Longing for various things, but the first morsel satisfies ; he rejects it at once. Nausea as from the abdomen, with colic pain. The food tastes bitter while in the mouth. Tension in the region of the stomach. Fulness in the stomach as if it were overloaded. Tension and bloatedness of the abdomen. Violent pain in the abdomen, with cutting, compelling one to lie doubled up ; much worse when standing. Twitching in the abdominal muscles. Cutting and rumbling in the abdomen as from flatulence.

Stool and Anus

Frequent ineffectual urging to stool, worse on motion and when walking. Thin, papescent, sour-smelling diarrhœic stools, with straining before, and colicky, constrictive cutting in the abdomen after, and chilliness during the stool. Mucous diarrhœa. Stools brown, mixed with mucus. Diarrhœa of lying-in women ; of children.

Urinary Organs

Increased secretion of urine. Urine, red or greenish-yellow. The bladder is weak, one has to press hard to pass the urine. Burning in the bladder.

Respiratory Organs

Dyspnœa, as from a load on the upper part of the chest. Stitches in the nipples. The milk of nursing women is yellow and bitter ; the infant refuses the breast.

Back

Stiffness in the sacrum and hips, which does not allow one to walk straight.

Extremities

Upper. Twitching in the arms, hands and fingers. Swelled veins on the hands. Cold perspiration on the palms of the hands. Bubbling sensation in the elbow-joint. Lower. Twitching of the muscles on the thighs. Sensation of fatigue in the thighs. Bubbling sensation from the bend of the knee to the heel. Stiffness in the bend of the knee with pain on motion.

Generalities

Bubbling sensation as from small bubbles in the muscles and joints. The limbs on which one lies go to sleep. Weakness and heaviness in the whole body, as if one were waking from a heavy sleep. The joints pain on moving them.

Sleep

Restless sleep at night, with tossing about, crying, moaning and groaning or with convulsive twitching of the eye-lids, muscles of the face and fingers, especially in children. After sleep on waking, headache, bad odor from the mouth, and unconsciousness. The hands are stretched over the head when going to sleep and during sleep.

Fever

Chilliness alternating with heat. One cheek is red and the other pale. Internal chilliness with external heat. Heat over the whole body, mostly on the hands and feet, with cold face. Heat predominates, without thirst. Perspiration from slight exertions. Cold perspiration around the nose and mouth. Perspiration on the forehead and scalp. The perspiration colors yellow.

Conditions

Especially suitable for children, especially nursing infants or during dentition.

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

Rheum officinale. R. palmatum. Rhabarbarum. Rhubarb (though called "Turkey-rhubarb," the root comes from China, the exact species yielding it not being certainly known). N. O. Polygonaceæ. Tincture and trituration of the dried root. [A tincture of the fresh leaves and young stalks should be investigated.]

Clinical

Ardor urinæ. Breath, offensive. Constipation. Deafness. Dentition, difficult. Diarrhœa . Duodenum, catarrh of. Dysentery. Ears, thickening in. Frowning. Headache. Jaundice. Kidneys, affections of. Ménière's disease. Milk, abnormal. Mouth, mucus in . Nipples, pain in. Nose, pain in. Nurselings, affections of. Œsophagus, constriction of. Rheumatism. Salivation. Screaming, of children. Snoring. Stomach, disordered. Taste, bad . Tongue, numbness of. Urination, difficult, of childbed. Urine, red.

Characteristics

Hahnemann's proving of Rheum has confirmed many of its traditional uses. In the form of Compound Rhubarb Powder ( Pulv. Rhei. Co . ─ Gregory's powder) along with Magnesia and Ginger , most of us can remember it as one of the terrors of the nursery. In its homœopathic form it has no terrors, but it remains a great remedy of sucklings and children, especially during dentition, to whom as well as to pregnant and nursing women it is particularly suited . Milne well summarises its action from the traditional point of view: "Tonic, cathartic, and a feeble astringent, the latter property being overborne by the cathartic and only coming into play afterwards" [ i.e ., the constipation which follows Rhubarb purgation]. "In small doses, it improves digestion and appetite, and renders the renal secretions more healthy. In larger doses it is an excellent cathartic, acting on the whole bowel and especially the duodenum, and increasing the peristaltic action. It is well suited for the early stages of diarrhœa, as a laxative in constipation from debility of the digestive organs, and in disorders of children, such as flatulence and irritation of the alimentary canal. It renders the serum of the blood yellow, the urine is almost of a blood-red colour." In connection with the last observation it must be remembered that Rheum contains a large amount of Chrysophanic acid (named from its brilliant yellow crystals). Among its many other constituents is Oxalate of Lime ( Calc. ox .) and Rheo-tannic acid. Milne's observations agree in the, main with homœopathic experience, but it is the latter alone which brings out the distinctive characters of the medicine. The grand keynote of Rhe . is sourness : The stools are sour; the taste is sour; the whole body has a sour smell. ─ No amount of washing will wash the sourness out of a characteristic Rheum baby. Such a condition may occur in sucklings, or at the period of dentition; and it may be associated with another characteristic Rhe . symptom, night-screaming; and yet another sopping-wet hair. The Rhe . child is as acid in temper as he is in body: peevish, impatient; screams for things; dislikes even his favourite playthings. "Screaming of children with urging and sour stools" is characteristic. With a few drops of Rhe . Ø I have relieved severe constipation in an acid child who was intolerant of almost all remedies in the attenuations. But Rhe . is by no means exclusively a children's remedy. Its symptoms are good for any period of life. The stomach disorders calling for Rhe . are characterised by: Sour, flat, slimy taste; or insipid or nauseous. Food tastes bitter, even sweet things (there is no bitter taste independently of food). The mouth is covered with offensive mucus after sleeping; and after sleeping there is bad taste and offensive breath. There is hunger for various kinds of food and the first few mouthfuls nauseate. The effects of eating plums or unripe fruit. There is nausea in abdomen. Colic is severe, compelling one to bend double, < standing; < just before stool; not > after; < at once by uncovering an arm or leg. The evacuations are accompanied by shivering and followed by renewed urging. "Shivering with stool" should draw attention to Rhe . ─ That there is much yet to be learned of the action of Rhe . is evident from the following: ( 1 ) Two cases (in men) of severe skin eruptions are quoted, H. W ., xxvii. 17, from the effects of Rhubarb root taken for constipation. The first symptoms in one case were rigors and pains in the legs. Soon lips, face, and tongue began to swell and became livid. A rash developed involving lips, beard, eyelids, and scalp, scabs mixed with abundant bloody pustular exudations. Hæmorrhages and pustular eruptions then appeared all over the body; blebs with clear fluid on backs of hands. Lymphatic glands swollen and painful. Removal of scabs left shallow dirty ulcers. Blood passed freely from urethra, but sometimes the urine was wholly free from it. Urine brownish yellow; free from albumen or sugar. Temperature 103.3° F. The second case was similar to the above. The patient had taken the powdered root. He woke one morning with burning sensation in face and found it covered with blisters and pustules. These were brownish red, irregular, size of pea or bean, deeply infiltrated at bases. Both surfaces of hands were also affected. The eruption, which closely resembled pemphigus, disappeared in a few weeks without treatment, leaving bluish pigmentation, but no cicatrices. There was no fever in this case. ( 2 ) From these cases given me by Cooper: ( a ) A lady suffering from characteristic symptoms of Ménière's disease, feeling of things spinning round with extreme giddiness and noises in the head, was cured by a chemist giving her 10 grains of powdered rhubarb, on the idea it was due to the liver. Before this great suffering had been endured without any relief. ( b ) In vertiginous symptoms due to brain exhaustion with flushings followed by perspiration and awful muffled and discordant tinnitus, great relief followed the sniffing of 3x trit. of Rheum Palmatum . Among the Peculiar Sensations and Symptoms of Rhe . are: Tendency to frown. Sensation as if brain moved when standing. Dull stupefying headache with bloated eyes. Sweat on hairy scalp, constant and very profuse; whether asleep or awake; in motion or quiet, hair always sopping wet; may or may not be sour. Stupefying drawing in root of nose extending to tip, where it tingles. Bladder weak, must press hard to urinate. Sensations : as if in a dream. As of a lump around navel. As of a load on upper part of chest. Cutting as if in lumbar vertebræ. Heaviness as on waking from a heavy sleep. Coldness in teeth. Blunt feeling in teeth. Constriction of stomach; of gullet. Crackling, crepitation, or bubbling in muscles and any part of body. Tongue numb, numbness of part of limb lain on. Symptoms are mostly left-sided or go from above down or from right to left. Localities are: Left loin; brain; upper part of body (sweat). " Rhe . has the property of setting up pains in old disease depôts, in the seat of old cellulitis and old psoriasis patches, producing hot burning pains therein as well as in the unaffected veins of the thighs and other parts. Its good effect in old middle and internal ear thickenings seems due to the creation of tissue-activity in dormant structures" (R. T. C.). Forcing pains are felt in dartrous patches. The symptoms are: < Night; and morning after sleep. < Uncovering; from cold. Uncovering arm or leg < colic. > Wrapping up; from warmth. In open air: eyes full of water. Hot weather < colic. > Lying doubled up; takes the queerest positions in order to rest awhile. Lying on limbs = them to go to sleep. Motion < . Walking < . [On the indication "Diarrhœa only during active exercise," Hurndall ( H. W . xxxvi., 28) cured a horse of a diarrhœa which only came on when he was at work.] Standing < (vertigo as if brain moved; colic; uterine bearing down). < After eating; after eating plums. < Before, during, and after stool (colic > or not > after stool).

Relations

Antidoted by: Camph., Cham., Coloc., Merc., Nux, Puls. Antidote to: Canth., Mg. c. "May be given after abuse of Magnesia, with or without Rhubarb, if stools are sour" (H. C. Allen). Complementary: After Mg. c. when milk disagrees and child has sour odour. Compatible: Ipec. Followed well by: Bell., Puls., Rhus, Sul. Compare: Botan., Polyg. h., Rumex., Lapath. Constituents: Chrys. ac., Calc. ox., Silic. Foul breath, Querc., Arn. < After sleep, Lach., Nat. m., Sul. Sour stools, Hep., Mg. c., Calc. (Rhe. has twitching of muscles of face and fingers during sleep; also puts arms over head). Queer positions, Plb. Head sweat, Calc., Sil., Sanic. < Uncovering, Rx. c. (Rhe., colic; Rx. c., cough). Screaming children with diarrhœa, Jalap. Bubbling sensation, Berb. Difficult dentition, Kre., Cham. Sour body smell, Hep., Mg. c. (Mg. c. is deeper acting than Rhe.). Impatience, Cin., Stp. Children. cry and toss all night, Pso. As if in a dream, Ambr., Anac., Calc., Can. i., Con., Cup., Med., Strm., Val., Ver., Ziz.

Causation

Eating prunes. Eating unripe fruit. Dentition. Spasms. Dislocations.

Mind

Indifference. ─ Indolence, and dislike to conversation. ─ Peevish disposition, with tears. ─ Restlessness, with desire to weep. ─ Impetuous desire for particular objects. ─ The child demands various things with vehemence and weeping; even its favourite playthings. ─ Screaming of children with urging and sour stools. ─ Unable to collect her senses for long after waking. ─ State of mind as if half asleep (or in a dream). ─ Delirium. ─ Incoherent talk.

Head

Stupefying cloudiness of head, as after intoxication, with prominent (bloated) eyes. ─ Vertigo, which occasions falling sideways, when standing. ─ Giddy headache, with anxiety. ─ Pressive headache, esp. in sinciput, temples, and vertex. ─ Pressure as with a finger at point where head joins neck. ─ Heaviness of head, with heat and tearings. ─ Dull and cramp-like tension in head. ─ Throbbing in head, sometimes proceeding from abdomen. ─ Movement of brain when stooping. ─ Sweat on forehead and scalp after slight effort. ─ Hair always (awake or asleep, active or still) sopping wet, may or may not be sour.

Eyes

Eyes weak and downcast, with aching pain, esp. when looking steadily at any object. ─ Pressure and pullings in eyelids. ─ Smarting in eyes, as if caused by dust. ─ Painful throbbing in eyes. ─ Convulsive starting in lids. ─ Lachrymation (swimming eyes, full of water), esp. in open air. ─ Pupils contracted.

Ears

Otalgia with itching in ear. ─ Pressure (at meatus as from a finger) and throbbing in ears. ─ Dulness of hearing, as from relaxation of tympanum, with rumbling in ears, > by violent swallowing but only for a moment. ─ Crackling and bubbling in ear and in muscles on side of neck. ─ (Ménière's disease). ─ (Old-standing and frequently recurring deafness with cicatricial membrana tympani gets well after single dose of Rhe . Ø. ─ R. T. C.)

Nose

Stupefying drawing from root of nose to tip, where it tingles. ─ Sensation of heat in nose.

Face

Face pale; or one cheek red, the other pale. ─ Tension of skin of face. ─ Frowning and contraction of muscles of forehead. ─ Itching rash on forehead and arm. ─ Cold perspiration on face, esp. on mouth and nose. ─ Twitching at commissures of lips.

Teeth

Digging pains in teeth which are carious. ─ Painful sensation of coldness in teeth (with accumulation of much saliva). ─ Difficult dentition of children. ─ Teeth feel blunt.

Mouth

Sensation of numbness and insensibility in tongue, with loss of taste for whole day (from chewing the stem). ─ Tongue swollen, articulation affected (poisoning case). ─ Salivation with colic or diarrhœa. ─ Mouth covered with offensive mucus after sleeping. ─ Offensive breath (after sleep). ─ Dryness and sensation of dryness in mouth.

Throat

Contraction of gullet.

Appetite

Loss of taste. ─ Mawkish, clammy, or sour taste. ─ Bad taste after sleep. ─ Food has a bitter taste. ─ Appetite for different things, which, however, changes to disgust at the first mouthful. ─ Dislike to fat and insipid food. ─ Repugnance to coffee (not sweetened with sugar). ─ Hunger without appetite.

Stomach

Nausea, as if proceeding from stomach, with colic. ─ Fulness in stomach, with pressure, as if overloaded. ─ Contractions in stomach. ─ Shootings and throbbings in pit of stomach.

Abdomen

Distension of abdomen, with tension. ─ Pressure in umbilical region. ─ Cutting and rumbling in abdomen as from flatulence. ─ Nausea in abdomen. ─ Cuttings in abdomen, which force a curving of the body, often shortly after a meal, < by standing; < from eating. ─ Colic: < at once by uncovering an arm or leg; not > by stool; before and during stool, > after; with very sour stools in acid children. ─ Incarceration of flatus, with aching and tension in chest. ─ Palpitation and jerking (swelling-bubbling sensation which seemed as if it could be heard) in abdominal muscles. ─ Itching stitches in inguinal gland.

Stool and Anus

Urgent and frequent want to evacuate, without any result, < by movement, and walking. ─ Diarrhœa only when exercising. ─ Desire for stool after a meal. ─ Loose evacuations, generally of a sour smell, liquid, or of the consistence of pap, preceded and followed by tenesmus, with constrictive pinching in abdomen, and shuddering during the evacuation. ─ Stools frequent, soft, semi-liquid, evacuated with great pain in back and burning in rectum. ─ Stools: brown, slimy; loose, thin, curdled, sour-smelling; corroding anus; mucous and fecal; whitish, curdy, turning green on exposure on diaper; pea-green; fetid; frothy. ─ Liquid, slimy stools as if fermented, with pale face, ptyalism; child draws up legs; smells sour. ─ Greyish or brown diarrhœa, mixed with mucus; followed by tenesmus, pain in back, and great burning in anus and rectum. ─ Profuse diarrhœa, with vomiting, and great weakness. ─ Diarrhœa of lying-in women; of children. ─ Constipation after the proving.

Urinary Organs

Increased secretion of urine. ─ Urine red; or greenish-yellow. ─ Blood flows freely from urethra (poisoning case). ─ Weakness of bladder: the urine cannot be discharged without effort. ─ Burning sensation in bladder. ─ Burning urine. ─ Urine has agreeable benzoic odour.

Male Sexual Organs

Unusual emissions.

Female Sexual Organs

Bearing down in uterine region while standing. ─ Drawing burning in l. ovarian region. ─ Urinary complaints after abortion. ─ Milk yellow, bitter. ─ Diarrhœa after confinement. ─ Stitches in nipples.

Respiratory Organs

Cough: dry in evening; with expectoration of mucus. ─ Snoring inspiration during sleep.

Chest

Dyspnœa on breathing deeply, as from a weight on (upper part of) chest. ─ Lancinations in chest. ─ Rush of blood to chest. ─ Crackling bubbling (even audible) in r. then l. pectoral muscles. ─ Palpitation of muscles of chest. ─ Pains and lancinations in breasts. ─ Milk of nursing women bitter and yellow; the infant refuses the breast.

Back

Violent cutting, as if in lumbar vertebræ, < from stool. ─ Cutting-drawing in l. lumbar region beneath short ribs, and in front of l. lower abdomen, just above pubes, or cutting in intestines. ─ Tension in back and small of back. ─ Rigidity in loins and hips, which does not permit standing upright.

Limbs

Simple pain in all joints during motion. ─ The limbs on which he lies fall asleep. ─ Lameness of wrists and knees after spasms and dislocations.

Upper Limbs

Lancinations in arms. ─ Tearing in arms, forearms, and joints of fingers. ─ Jerking in arms and hands. ─ Muscular palpitation (bubbling sensation) in joints of elbows. ─ Veins (on hands) swollen, and hands hot. ─ Perspiration, sometimes cold, on palms of hands. ─ Jerking in fingers.

Lower Limbs

Great lassitude in thighs. ─ Jerking in muscles of thighs. ─ Numbness of legs when crossed. ─ Muscular palpitations in hams, legs and toes. ─ Stiffness of ham, with pain during movement. ─ Shootings in knees and legs. ─ Bubbling sensation from bend! of knee to heel. ─ Stiffness in bend of knees with pain on motion. ─ Intermittent burning as from glowing coals between internal malleolus and tendo Achilles. ─ Sticking itching in hollows of soles. ─ Bubbling-crackling sensation in ball of l. big toe.

Generalities

[We use this remedy most particularly for sour-smelling children; stools, vomit, breath, all smell sour. Before or during stool there are colicky pains about umbilicus straining before stool, which is finally voided with ease; infants who cry a great deal with colic in the night; tenesmus without stool. ─ H. N. G.]. ─ Affections of l. side of body. ─ Perspiration on upper part of body. ─ Soreness of the joints during movement. ─ Pulsative pains. ─ Palpitation in muscles, esp. round joints. ─ Numbness of the limbs upon which patient has been lying. ─ Lassitude and heaviness in whole body as after waking from deep sleep.

Skin

Pemphigus on face, scalp, and hands; face, lips, and tongue swollen; face livid (poisoning cases). ─ Itching rash on forehead and arms.

Sleep

Sleep and yawnings. ─ Disturbed sleep at night, with tossing, cries, moaning and snoring, or with convulsive quivering of eyelids, muscles of face, and of fingers, esp. in children. ─ The hands are passed over the head when going to sleep, and during sleep. ─ Nocturnal raving and moving about in bed, although eyes are closed. ─ After sleep, headache and dizziness; or fetid mucus, of a putrid smell and taste, in mouth. ─ Anxious, sad, vivid dreams.

Fever

Shuddering, without external coldness. ─ Alternate shiverings and heat, with anxiety, and repugnance to everything. ─ Heat in hands and feet, with coolness of face. ─ Perspiration easily excited by the least exercise, esp. on forehead and scalp. ─ Sweat stains yellow.

The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica

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

General

Rhubarb. Polygonaceæ.
Provings by Hahnemann, Gross, Hornburg, Rückert, Teuthorn, etc. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 8, p. 303 .
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Headache , Fuller, Hah. Mo., vol. 20, p. 539 ; Difficult dentition , Tuller, Hah. Mo., vol. 20, p. 538 ; Renal affections , Tuller, Hah. Mo., vol. 20, p. 542 ; Diarrhœa , Hartmann, Tietze, Weigel, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 1, p. 846 ; Kirsch, Müller, Hartmann, Kafka, Weber, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 5, p. 430 ; Smalls, Raue's Rec., 1873, p. 122, from U. S. Med. and Surg. Jour., vol. 7, p. 428 ; Dysentery , Gauwerky, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 5, p. 447.

Mind

Child impatiently and vehemently desires many things and cries ; dislikes even its favorite playthings.
Screaming of children, with urging and sour stools.
Not inclined to talk much ; indolent ; taciturn ; morose.
Restless, with weeping.

Sensorium

Vertigo and heaviness, with beating in head ; < while standing.
Sensation as if brain moved, when standing.

Inner head

Beating headache.
Dull, light, dizzy sort of headache, extending over whole brain.
Dull, stupefying headache, with bloated eyes.
Heaviness of head ; heat rising up to it.
Pulsation in head, ascending from abdomen.
Pulsative, crampy headache.
Sensation as if brain moved when stooping.
Headache due to gastric derangement ; pain on top of head ; sour, flat, slimy taste in mouth ; bitter taste of food ; hunger, but great repugnance to food after eating a little.

Outer head

Sweat on hairy scalp, constant and very profuse ; whether asleep or awake, in motion or quiet, the hair is always sopping wet ; sweat may or may not be sour.

Sight and eyes

Weak and dull, especially when looking intently at any object.
Swimming eyes full of water, especially in open air.
Pupils dilated, with pressing headache ; later contracted, with inward restlessness.
Contracted pupils.
Pulsation in eyes.
Convulsive twitching of eyelids.
Granulated upper lids.

Smell and nose

Stupefying drawing in root of nose, extending to tip, where it tingles.

Upper face

Pale ; one cheek red, the other pale.
Muscles of forehead are drawn together and wrinkled.
Tension of skin of face.
Cool sweat on face, most around nose and mouth.

Teeth and gums

Painful sensation of coldness in teeth, with accumulation of much saliva.
Difficult dentition ; restlessness and irritability ; child is nervous, with temporary satisfaction after its whims are gratified ; pallor of face ; occasional twitching of eyelids, corners of mouth, lips and fingers ; the child smells sour.

Taste, speech, tongue

Taste : sour ; flat, slimy ; insipid or nauseous ; bitter only of food, even of sweet things.
Tongue numb, insensible.

Inner mouth

Salivation with colic or diarrhœa.

Appetite, thirst. desires, aversions

Desire for various kinds of food, which become repugnant as soon as a little is eaten.

Eating and drinking

After eating prunes, colic.
After a meal, loose stool ; colic, which is worse standing.

Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting

Nausea, as from stomach or abdomen, with colic.

Scrobiculum and stomach

Fullness in stomach, as after eating too much.
Throbbing in pit of stomach.
Disordered stomach in children ; nervous, irritable, desiring many things, with repugnance to food, pale face, sour-smelling breath, nightly restlessness and crying during sleep.

Hypochondria

Jaundice, in consequence of eating unripe fruit, accompanied by white diarrhœa.
Duodenal catarrh and catarrh of biliary ducts, with jaundice ; stools whitish, pasty, or clay-colored ; skin, earthy, jaundiced.

Abdomen and loins

Sensation of nausea in abdomen.
Abdomen bloated, tense ; wind seems to rise into chest.
Like a lump around navel.
Cutting and rumbling as from flatulence.
Griping with great urging to stool.
Cutting in umbilical region.
Colic : violent pain with cutting ; must lie doubled up ; < when standing ; immediately before stool, not > by stool ; before and during stool, > after ; a quarter of an hour after dinner ; with very sour stools, acid children ; in children made < at once by uncovering an arm or a leg, child smells sour ; < by eating plums.

Stools and rectum

Frequent urging and ineffectual straining ; < on motion and walking.
Colicky ; ineffectual urging ; altered fecal stools.
Desire for stool after a meal.
Stool : brown, slimy ; loose, thin, curdled, sour-smelling, fermented ; corroding anus ; mucous and fecal ; pasty ; thin, brownish, fecal ; whitish, curdy, turning green on diaper on exposure to air ; of a pea-green ; feces mixed with green slime ; fetid ; frothy.
Before stool : urging ; ineffectual urging to urinate ; cutting colic.
During stool : colic ; chilliness, cutting and constricting pains in abdomen ; pale face ; salivation ; screaming (teething infants), with drawing up of limbs or stiffening body.
After stool : tenesmus ; renewed urging (when moving) ; constrictive cutting colic, < from motion.
Aggravation : when moving about ; in infants and children ; after eating ; during dentition ; in childbed ; during inflammatory rheumatism ; in hot weather ; when uncovering (pains).
Amelioration : by bending double (colic).
Diarrhœa, with sour, slimy stool and tenesmus after abuse of Magnesia.
Almost immediately after nursing child has a loose stool, which is sour-smelling, accompanied by colic.
Liquid slimy stools, as if fermented, with pale face, ptyalism, colic, crying and restlessness ; child draws up legs, smells sour despite all washing.
Very severe diarrhœa, with colic and tenesmus ; alternate chilliness and heat ; great thirst ; general sweat ; great prostration, restlessness, fear of death.
Diarrhœa of teething children during Summer ; extreme emaciation.
Diarrhœa of children who have not cut any teeth ; evacuations fluid, greenish, sour-smelling, as if fermented, accompanied by colic, with flexing of thighs upon abdomen ; tossing about ; paleness of face ; ptyalism.
Sour, fetid discharge during dentition ; always some congestion about head ; fever and dark-colored, smarting urine and dysuria.
Dysentery ; after bloody stools have ceased, tenesmus, with brown, mushlike, slimy, sour stools.
During phthisis, greenish diarrhœa, of sour smell, containing much mucus, accompanied by colic and tenesmus.
Diarrhœa during inflammatory rheumatism.
Chronic diarrhœa, sour, frothy ; with moist tongue, thirst, loss of appetite.

Urinary organs

Burning in kidneys and bladder, before and during urination.
Bladder weak, must press hard to urinate.
Urine : increased ; red or greenish-yellow.
Abdomen distended ; urine scanty, burning, reddish, with a pink sediment ; face pale and bloated ; disposition irritable ; very nervous ; constant disposition to sweat upon slightest motion ; hair wet all the time ; severe cutting drawing in left loin below short ribs, with a drawing, aching, burning sensation in left ovarian region, sometimes agonizing. θ Ascites.
Child lay in a stupor, from which he frequently roused and screamed ; face pale and covered with cool sweat, forehead and hair sopping wet ; lips, eyelids and fingers twitching ; urine scanty, hot, with slimy shreds and strings of blood on diaper ; renal region tender on pressure, causing child to wince and cry.
Eight months pregnant ; face and eyes bloated ; great pallor of countenance, irritable, nervous, easily startled by noises and apprehensive, twitching of facial muscles ; great disposition to sweat on slightest motion ; cool sweat on forehead ; hair constantly wet ; urine scanty and fragrant, high-colored.

Female sexual organs

Bearing down in uterine region, while standing.

Pregnancy. parturition. lactation

After abortus, urinary complaints.
Milk of nursing women yellow and bitter ; infant refused breast.
Diarrhœa in first days after confinement, with colic, tenesmus, prostration, restlessness ; fear of death ; stools watery, offensive.
Stitches in nipples.

Respiration

Dyspnœa, as from a load on upper part of chest.
Snoring inspiration during sleep.

Heart, pulse and circulation

Pulse generally unchanged ; only a little accelerated, especially in evening.

Neck and back

Stiffness in sacrum and hips ; cannot walk straight.
Violent cutting, as if in lumbar vertebræ, < by stool.
Cutting, drawing in left lumbar region, beneath short ribs and in forepart of left side of lower abdomen, just above pubes ; digging in intestines.

Upper limbs

Darting pains in arms.
Twitching in arms, hands and fingers.
Bubbling sensation in elbow joints.
Veins of hand distended.
Cold sweat on palms of hands.

Lower limbs

Twitching of muscles of thighs.
Sensation of fatigue in thighs, as after great exertion.
Tensive, pressing pain in hollow of left knee, extending to heel.
Stiffness in bend of knee, with pain on motion.
Bubbling sensation from bend of knee to heel.

Limbs in general

Limbs fall asleep from lying on them, particularly the lower, in putting one over the other.
Simple pain in all the joints during motion.

Rest. position. motion

Takes the queerest positions, in order to rest awhile ; restless nights ; cannot walk erect ; flexes limbs ; puts hands over head ; must lie doubled up.
Lying on limbs : makes them fall asleep.
Must lie doubled up : colic.
Stooping : as if brain moved.
Standing : vertigo, as if brain moved ; colic < ; bearing down in uterine region.
Motion : urging and straining < ; colic < ; slightest disposition to sweat ; stiffness in bend of knee painful, pain in all joints.
Walking : urging and straining.
Cannot walk straight : stiffness of limbs, hips and sacrum.

Nerves

Weakness, exhaustion also of children, with diarrhœa.
Weakness and heaviness of whole body as if one were waking from a heavy sleep.
Restlessness.
Child is pale, quarrels, frets in sleep ; with convulsive startings in fingers.

Sleep

Puts hands over head when falling asleep and in sleep.
During sleep : heat ; jerking motion of muscles in face or eyelids ; trembling ; moving limbs ; bending head backward.
Children cry and toss about all night ; delirious talking ; full of fear.
Vivid, sad, anxious dreams.
Walking in sleep.
On awakening from sleep, headache ; bad odor from mouth.
Requires very little sleep and not much food.

Time

Evening : pulse accelerated.
Night : restlessness ; children cry and toss about.

Temperature and weather

General aggravation from uncovering, from cold.
Amelioration from wrapping up, from warmth.
Open air : eyes full of water.
Uncovering arm or leg : colic <.
Hot weather : colic <.

Fever

Chilliness, alternating with heat ; internal, with external heat.
Heat all over, mostly on hands and feet, with cold face ; no thirst.
Perspiration from slight exertions.
Sweats easily without fever.
Perspiration on forehead and scalp after slight exertion.
Cold perspiration on face, especially about mouth and nose.
Sweat on scalp and forehead.
Cold sweat about nose and mouth.
Sweat stains yellow.

Attacks, periodicity

Alternate : chilliness and heat.

Locality and direction

Symptoms mostly left-sided ; going (in the sick) downward, or from right to left.
Left : cutting drawing in loin ; drawing, burning in ovarian region ; cutting drawing in lumbar region and in forepart of side of lower abdomen ; pressing pain in hollow of knee.

Sensations

As if brain moved ; as of a lump around navel ; as of a load on upper part of chest ; cutting as if in lumbar vertebræ ; heaviness, as if one were waking from a heavy sleep.
Pain : on top of head ; in all joints.
Violent pain : in abdomen.
Cutting : in umbilical region.
Cutting drawing : in left loin ; in left lumbar region.
Darting pains : in arms.
Digging : in intestines.
Stitches : in nipples.
Constricting pains : in abdomen.
Drawing, aching, burning : in left ovarian region.
Tensive, pressing pain : in hollow of knee.
Beating : in head.
Throbbing : in pit of stomach.
Pulsation : in head ; in eyes.
Twitching : eyelids, corners of mouth, lips and fingers ; in arms and hands ; of muscles of thighs.
Burning : in kidneys and bladder.
Bearing down : in uterine region.
Stupefying drawing : in root of nose.
Dull, stupefying headache.
Dull, light, dizzy sort of headache.
Bubbling sensation : in elbow joints ; from bend of knee to heel.
Fulness : in stomach.
Heaviness : in head.
Numbness : of tongue.
Painful coldness : in teeth.

Tissues

Diarrhœa during dentition.
Acute rheumatism, going from joint to joint, right shoulder to hip, left hip to right.
Lameness of wrists and knees after sprains and dislocations.
Anasarca.

Skin

Sour smell of whole body.
Child smells sourish, even if washed or bathed.

Stage of life, constitution

Often suitable for children, sucklings, or during dentition.
Sour-smelling children who cry a great deal Child, æt. 5 months, suffering four days ; diarrhœa.
Boy, æt. 6 months, after diphtheria ; acute nephritis.
Boy, æt. 9 months, ill three days ; diarrhœa.
Girl, æt. 2 ; frothy diarrhœa.
Woman, æt. 35, blonde, lively disposition, delivered several days ago, suffering three days ; diarrhœa.
Mrs. W., æt. 47, eight months pregnant ; renal disorder.
Mrs. A., æt. 60 ; renal affection.

Relations

Antidoted by : Camphor., Chamom., Coloc., Mercur., Nux vom., Pulsat .
It antidotes : Canthar . and Magn. carb .
Compatible : Ipecac .
Complementary : after Magn. carb .
Compare : Arsen., Bellad., Chamom., Coloc., Dulcam., Nux vom., Podoph., Pulsat., Rhus tox., Sulphur .