Rumex Crispus rumx.

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

Mucous membranes: Larynx. Trachea. THROAT-PIT. Bowels. Nerves. Skin. Left side; chest. Joints. Ankles.

Worse

COOL AIR: INHALING. Open air. Raw changes. Uncovering. Night. Pressure; on trachea.

Better

Covering mouth. Wrapping up.

General

Dry, sensitive mucous membranes. Stickiness, with burning. Every cold affects the joints. Sharp pains; neuralgias, etc. Obesity.

Particulars

Eyes burn, indoors; puffed in A.M. Dry posterior nares. Sneezing attacks. Sodden complexion. Hawks out much tenacious mucus. Throat feels hollow. Ravenous appetite. Borborygmi. Sudden, profuse, foul, early morning diarrhœa (5-9 A.M.); after catarrh; in phthisis. Respiration < wind. Suffocative choking. Dyspnœa, on retiring. EVERY BREATH OF COLD AIR CAUSES TICKLING, as from a feather or dust, IN THROAT-PIT, AND CONTINUOUS COUGH; > closing or covering mouth or head. Profuse, frothy expectoration. Pain from r. ovary to back. Pain, rawness or burning under clavicle (l); as if the air penetrated there. Chest sore. Pain under sternum; under l. nipple. Heart seems impeded, then heavy pulsation through chest. Pain in l. shoulder on coughing or raising arm. Right scapula. Spasmodic cramps in ankles and feet. Skin itches if exposed to air. Acne vulgaris on back. Sudden sleepiness.

Related

Related: Caus. Seneg.

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

For the tubercular diathesis, extremely sensitive skin and mucous membranes. Extremely sensitive to open air; hoarseness; worse evenings; after exposure to cold; voice uncertain. Tickling in throat pit, causing, dry, teasing cough. Dry, incessant, fatiguing cough; worse from changing air or room (Phos., Spong.); evening after lying down; touching or pressing the throat pit; lying on left side (Phos.); from slightest inhalation of cold air; covers head with bedclothes to make air warmer; little or no expectoration. The cough is < in cool air or by anything which increases the volume or rapidity of inspired air. Sensation of lump in throat; descends on swallowing, but returns immediately. Raw sensation in larynx and trachea when coughing (Caust.). Urine; involuntary with cough (Caust., Puls., Sil.). Early morning diarrhoea; from 5 to 10 a. m. (Aloe, Nat. s., Pod., Sulph.); stools painless, profuse, offensive; sudden urging, driving out of bed in morning. Skin: itching of various parts; < by cold, > by warmth; when undressing, uncovering or exposing to cold air (Hep., Nat. s., Olean.).

Relations

Compare: Bell., Caust., Dros., Hyos., Phos., Sang., Sulph.

Aggravation

Cool or cold air; lying down (Hyos.).

Amelioration

Warmth; keeping mouth covered to exclude cold air.

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

Cough caused by an incessant tickling in the throat-pit, which tickling runs down to the bifurcation of the bronchial tubes; touching the throat pit brings on the cough; by covering up all the body and head with the bed-clothes there is no cough.

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

Violent, incessant, dry fatiguing cough, with little expectoration, aggravated by pressure, talking, and especially by inspiring cool air and night. Brown. watery morning diarrhoea. Sensation of soreness and rawness in larynx and behind the sternum.

Homœopathic Materia Medica

William Boericke · Homœopathic Materia Medica · 9th edition

Common name

Yellow Dock

General

Is characterized by pains, numerous and varied, neither fixed nor constant anywhere. Cough caused by an incessant tickling in the throat-pit, which tickling runs down to the bifurcation of the bronchial tubes. Touching the throat-pit brings on the cough. Worse from the least cold air; so that all cough ceases by covering up all the body and head with the bedclothes. Rumex diminishes the secretions of mucous membranes, and at the same time exalts sensibility of the mucous membranes of the larynx and trachea. Its action upon the skin is marked, producing an intense itching. Lymphatics enlarged and secretions perverted.

Stomach

Tongue sore at edges; coated; sensation of hard substance in pit of stomach; hiccough, pyrosis, nausea; cannot eat meat; it causes eructations, pruritus. Jaundice after excessive use of alcoholics. Chronic gastritis; aching pain in pit of stomach and shooting in the chest; extends towards the throat-pit, worse any motion or talking. Pain in left breast after meals; flatulence.

Respiratory

Nose dry. Tickling in throat-pit causes cough. Copious mucous discharge from nose and trachea. Dry, teasing cough, preventing sleep. Aggravated by pressure, talking, and especially by inspiring cool air and at night. Thin, watery, frothy expectoration by the mouthful: later, stringy and tough. Rawness of larynx and trachea. Soreness behind sternum, especially left side, in region of left shoulder. Raw pain under clavicle. Lump in throat.

Stool

Brown, watery, diarrhœa early in morning, with cough, driving him out of bed. Valuable in advanced phthisis (Seneg; Puls; Lycop; Ars). Itching of anus, with sensation as of a stick in rectum. Piles.

Skin

Intense itching of skin, especially of lower extremities; worse, exposure to cold air when undressing. Urticaria; contagious prurigo.

Modalities

Worse, in evening, from inhaling cold air; left chest; uncovering.

Relationship

Compare: Caust; Sulph; Bell; Rumex contains chrysophanic acid to which the skin symptoms correspond. Rumex acetosa-Sheep sorrel--(Gathered in June and dried, used locally for Epithelioma of face (Cowperthwaite). Dry, unremitting short cough, and violent pains in the bowels; uvula elongated; inflammation of œsophagus; also cancer); Rumex obtusifolius-Lapathum-Broad-leaf dock--(nosebleed and headache following; pain in kidneys; leucorrhœa).

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

Violent incessant dry cough; worse on inhaling the least cold air; covers the mouth to keep the cold air out, with relief.

Brownish diarrhea, < in morning.

Intense itching of the skin when undressing to go to bed.

There are three localities in which this remedy acts very markedly, viz.: Respiratory organs, bowels and skin. "Violent, incessant cough, dry and fatiguing, with very little or no expectoration, aggravated by pressure, talking, and especially by inspiring cold air, and at night" (Dunham.) There is perhaps no remedy under which the sensibility of the mucous membranes of the larynx and trachea become more exalted than this one. The patient must cover up the head in bed in order to protect these membranes from contact with the air, which immediately excites cough. Several other remedies, like Phosphorus and Spongia, have cough aggravated by breathing cold air, but none so markedly as Rumex. Going from warm room into cool air and vice versa. Bryonia and Natrum carbonicum have the opposite. The tickling that excites the cough may locate in the throat-pit, supra-sternal fossa, or down behind the sternum to stomach, where is often added a sensation of soreness or rawness. (Caust.). Again we have found it efficacious in cough, with stitching pain through left lung just below left nipple. (Natrum sulph.).

The diarrhœa of Rumex is similar to that of Natrum sulph., Sulphur and Podophyllum, in that it occurs in the morning, but it is a brown diarrhœa and is apt to be accompanied with, or an accompaniment of, the cough. On the skin it cures an eruption which is characterized by intense itching when undressing to go to bed. This eruption may be vesicular, like army or prairie itch, or may look like simple urticaria. Itching on undressing is also found under Natrum sulphuricum and Oleander, but with Natrum this itching is apt to be found in connection with jaundice or malarial symptoms. If we should get intense itching over the body, which was aggravated by warmth, especially warmth of the bed, we would think of Mercurius solubilis or protoiodide.

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

Low-spirited, with serious expression of the face. Irritable, -disinclined to mental exertions.

Head

Dull feeling in the head (with the cough). Dull pain in the forehead (worse on motion).

Eyes

Pain in the eyes, as from dryness and inflammation of the lids, especially in the evening.

Ears

Itching, deep in the ears.

Nose

Violent sneezing ; with fluent coryza, worse in the evening and at night.

Face

Heat of the face, with pulsation over the whole body.

Mouth and Throat

Bitter taste in the mouth (in the morning). Dryness on the tip of the tongue, and hot on the forepart. Tongue white, or coated yellow-brown or reddish-brown. Accumulation of mucus near the posterior nares. Discharge of yellow mucus through the posterior nares.

Stomach and Abdomen

Fulness in the stomach after breakfast. Colic pain around the navel.

Stool and Anus

Constipation, feces brown, hard, tough. Itching at the anus.

Respiratory Organs

Voice, higher, or as with catarrh ; or nasal voice ; or hoarse, especially in the evening. Soreness and rawness in the larynx when coughing. Hawking of mucus from the upper part of the larynx and throat ; with burning soreness ; extending later to the bronchus of the left chest ; and can be renewed by a stronger exhalation and scraping. Tickling in the throat-pit, causing cough. Pressure on the throat causes cough. Cough from tickling in the throat-pit, extending to behind the sternum and the stomach. Cough dry, worse when walking, from tickling in the throat-pit, with soreness in the larynx and behind the upper part of the sternum, and pain in the chest. Cough, with violent coryza, and rawness in the upper part of the sternum. Tickling cough from irritation behind the sternum. Cough, as soon as he turns on the left side. Cough, with pain in the stomach, soreness behind the sternum ; stitches in the left lung. Cough from pressure on the throat ; with soreness in the larynx and chest, and with hoarseness. Hoarse, barking cough ; every night several attacks, the first generally at 11 P.M., and two more at 2 and 5 A.M., lasting a long time (in children). Breathing causes soreness behind the sternum. Pain in the centre of the left lung. The sternum feels sprained. Burning in the region of the heart.

Extremities

Upper. Coldness of the hands when coughing. Lower. Sensitiveness of the feet, and stinging, pain in the corns.

Generalities

Great debility, with aversion to occupation and general indifference about his surroundings.

Fever

Pulse accelerated, especially when ascending steps. Chilliness, especially in the back, with colic, nausea and stitches hear the middle of the chest. Flushes of heat, especially in the cheeks. Perspiration on awaking from sound sleep.

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

Rumex crispus. Curled Dock. Yellow Dock. N. O. Polygonaceæ. Tincture of fresh root.

Clinical

Abortion. Aphonia. Asthma. Borborygmi. Bronchitis . Catarrh. Corns. Coryza. Cough. Diarrhœa . Dyspepsia. Epistaxis. Feet, tender. Gastralgia. Heart, pain in; affections of. Indigestion. Irritation. Lichen . Mouth, ulceration of. Phimosis. Phthisis. Prurigo. Rheumatism. Throat, sore ulcerated. Trachea, affections of. Urticaria.

Characteristics

The "Yellow Dock" or "Curled Dock" is a common British weed, introduced and growing wild in North America, where the provings were made. The common Dock of our fields and roadsides, Rumex obtusifolia , has a reputation among children as the best antidote to the nettle's sting; a reputation which is very well deserved, as I can testify. Rumex crispus , according to Joslin, quoted by Hale, was used by allopaths internally and externally for the cure of itch. This points to one of the leading actions of Rx. c . as developed in the provings. Among the constituents and salts of Rx. c . are Sulphur and Calc. Ph . (Hale); and Sul., Calc ., and Pho . are strongly represented in its action. Rx. c ., again, is a close ally of Rheum , and has analogous purgative and other properties. The provings were made by Houghton, Joslin, H. M. Paine, Bayard, Rhees, &c., both with the tincture and with attenuations, and its characteristics were well defined. A keynote of many Rx. c . cases is sensitiveness to cold air. The cough and skin symptoms are < by uncovering or exposure to air. Guernsey thus describes the cough of Rx. c .: "Cough caused by an incessant tickling in throat-pit, which tickling runs down to the bifurcation of the bronchial tubes; touching the throat brings on the cough; by covering up all the body and head with the bed-clothes there is no cough." Correspondingly this symptom of Paine's has led to many cures of skin cases: " While undressing , and for some time after, considerable itching of surface of lower limbs " ─ where exposure to air is again the exciting cause. The characteristic diarrhœa of Rx. c . occurs in the early morning, driving the patient out of bed; it comes on after catarrh, and is often associated with the characteristic cough of the remedy. The Rx. c . cough causes expulsion of urine; and it may even cause expulsion of the fœtus in pregnant women. P. P. Wells relates this case (Hale): Mrs. X. had had eight miscarriages in the early months, each miscarriage being attended with a dry, shaking, spasmodic cough in paroxysms of great violence, which was regarded as the cause of the abortions. At the beginning of the ninth pregnancy she came under homœopathic treatment. The cough came on ─ very dry, harsh, loud, shaking, < at night, preventing sleep, excited instantly by pressure on the trachea. Rx. c . 30 promptly relieved. Wells also cured with Rx. c . 200 (Lehrman's preparation) the following in a man: Cough beginning with tickling behind top of sternum, sometimes in paroxysms lasting for five to ten minutes. Trachea sore to external pressure; feels excoriated through its whole extent, as also do the fauces. Cough is excited by pressure on throat-pit; violent with scanty difficult expectoration; shakes head as if it would fly to pieces and chest so that he feels he might raise blood any minute. Paroxysms exhaust him; headache during cough. Joslin pointed out the left chest had more verified symptoms than any other region. Further Conditions of Rx. c . are < lying on left side; > lying on right side, < At 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. Another Condition of the cough is that it is induced or < by any irregularity of respiration , such as a little deeper breath than usual or a little more rapid. Cough when eating. Joslin reports a number of cases of gastric derangement cured with Rx. c . ( 1 ) A young lady had shootings from pit of stomach into chest in various directions; sharp pains in left chest; dull aching in forehead and slight nausea. One dose of 30th removed all her symptoms and restored her appetite. ( 2 ) A lady, 50, had had for three weeks pain in pit of stomach, aching in left chest, flatulence, eructations, pains and distension in stomach after meals. Rx. c . 200, one dose, cured in two or three hours. ( 3 ) Young lady had sensation of fulness and pressure in pit of stomach extending up towards throat, carried down on swallowing and rising again to throat . Rx. c . 200 cured. ( 4 ) A gentleman not used to tea took a cup, very weak, of the black kind; then followed aching in pit of stomach and aching above it in chest, and especially on each side of lower end of sternum. Rx. c . 30 cured in a few minutes. The flatulence and rumbling of Rx. c . are well marked, and I have found it the best general remedy for the painless but annoying borborygmi frequently complained of by women. The left side is more markedly affected than the right. The circulation is much disturbed, violent palpitations of the heart and throbbing throughout the whole body being noted. Carleton Smith points out ( H. P ., x. 275) that in a case of cough cured by Cardoza with Rx. c . the characteristic was "cough only during the day, not at all at night." This gives Rx. c . a place beside Fer . and Mang . Smith has cured with Rx. c . many cases of indigestion in which this symptom was present: "Lump in throat, not > by hawking or swallowing; it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns." Peculiar Sensations are: Eyes pain as if from dryness. Tongue as if burned. Lump in throat; it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns. Hard substance in pit of stomach. Bunch in throat or behind sternum. Pressure of a stick in rectum. As if urine could not long be retained. As if she could not get another breath. As if air did not penetrate chest. As if a feather swaying to and fro in bronchi. As if head would fly to pieces (with cough). As if he might raise blood any minute. As if cough did not reach low enough to raise phlegm. As if heart suddenly stopped. Sternum feels sprained. Raw feeling under clavicles. Hands cold when coughing. The symptoms are < by touch; pressure; riding. < By cold; > by warmth. < Change: warm to cold or cold to warm; changing rooms. < Lying down (pain in pit of stomach > lying perfectly quiet). < Lying on left side; burning in left side. > Lying right side. < Talking. < Deep inspiration; or irregularity of breathing. < Walking. < Evening and night; and morning on waking, 3.30 and 11 p.m., 2 to 5 a.m. < When eating and after meals. > Discharge of offensive flatus.

Relations

Antidoted by: Camph., Bell., Hyo., Con., Lach., Pho. Compare: Hard, dry, tickling cough, < reading, < touching larynx, Cin. Asthma of consumptives < 2 a.m., Meph., Sticta. Pains in left lung < moving; cough from change of temperature, Bry. (Bry. more when change is to warm air; Rx. c. more when to cold). Tickling cough from suprasternal fossa excited by speaking, Sil. Morning diarrhœa hurrying patient out of bed, Sul. Annoying, tickling cough on lying down, Hyo., Con. Urticaria, morning diarrhœa, Apis (opposite Conditions). Dry cough from tickling in suprasternal fossa < least cool air or deep inspiration, Bell. Effects of tea, Thuj. Stitching pains in chest, pulsations, over whole body, K. ca. Tough mucus, K. bi. Cough when eating, Calc. Burnt sensation in tongue, Ran. b. Stick in rectum, Æsc. h. Cough < changing air, Spo., Pho. < Lying left side, Pho., Pul. Raw sensation in larynx and trachea when coughing, Caust. Spurting of urine with cough, Caust., Pul., Scil. Early morning diarrhœa, Alo., Nat. s., Pod., Sul. Skin symptoms < uncovering, Hep., Nat. s., Oleand. Cough starting in throat-pit (Bell. more in fauces; Pho. more in bronchi). Incessant cough and botan., Rx. ac. Diarrhœa and botan., Rhe. Botan., Fago., Polyg., Lapath. Cough only during day, Fer., Mang.

Mind

Low-spirited: with serious expression of face; with suicidal mood. ─ Irritable; disinclined to mental exertion. ─ Indifference to surroundings. ─ Stagnation of ideas, lassitude, and uneasiness.

Head

Headache after waking in morning, preceded by a disagreeable dream. ─ Dull (and bruised) pains: on r. side; in occiput; in forehead with bruised feeling, < on motion. ─ Darting pain or sharp piercing in l. side of head. ─ Catarrhal headache with great irritation of larynx and trachea, clavicular pain and soreness behind sternum. ─ Bruised sensation on waking, continued till noon, disappeared suddenly after dinner. ─ Headache < in open air. ─ Pungent drawing in l. occiput with a similar pain in l. nostril and feeling as if coryza would ensue.

Eyes

Pain in eyes as from dryness; lids inflamed, < evening. ─ Sore feeling in eyes without inflammation. ─ Deep-seated pain in r. eye. ─ Sharp, shooting pain in (and over) l. eye.

Ears

Ringing in ears. ─ Itching deep in ears. ─ Pain, throbbing, stopped sensation in ears.

Nose

Great desire to pick nose. ─ Nose obstructed; dry sensation, even in posterior nares. ─ Sudden, sharp, tingling sensation in Schneiderian membrane, followed by violent and rapid sneezing five or six times in succession, with watery discharge. ─ Violent sneezing with watery coryza and headache), < evening and night. ─ Accumulation of mucus about posterior nares. ─ Yellow mucus discharged through posterior nares. ─ Epistaxis, violent sneezing, and painful irritation of nostrils. ─ Influenza with violent catarrh, followed by bronchitis.

Face

Great paleness of face while standing. ─ Heat of face; redness < evenings; dull headache; with pulsations over whole body. ─ Pain in side of face, including r. temple and ear; also l. side of upper lip. ─ Pain in r. jaw, morning. ─ After retiring late at night, lancinating pains in lower jaw at root of l. canine teeth.

Mouth

Pain in teeth of both sides, morning. ─ Toothache: entirely > after eating dinner; > by rinsing mouth with cold water. ─ Grumbling stinging toothache in r. upper molars, while riding in a cold wind; with pain in forehead. ─ Tongue coated: white; yellow; yellowish-brown, or reddish-brown. ─ Dryness of anterior part of tongue, with sense of repletion in stomach and as if one had eaten spice. ─ Sensation of excoriation at edges of tongue. ─ Front of tongue dry and hot. ─ Soreness of r. edge of tongue. ─ Sensation as if tongue and mouth burnt. ─ Ulceration of mouth and throat. ─ Taste: bitter (mornings); nasty; flat (on rising). ─ Flow of saliva.

Throat

Scraping in throat; excoriated feeling with secretion of mucus in upper part. ─ Sensation of a lump in throat, not > by hawking or swallowing; it descends on swallowing, but immediately returns. ─ Sensation of a lump in œsophagus. ─ Aching in pharynx with collection of tough mucus in fauces. ─ Catarrhal affections of throat and fauces. ─ Throat dry, swallowing difficult; pain in l. side on swallowing.

Stomach

Appetite: much increased lost. ─ Thirst. ─ After meals: flatulency; heaviness in stomach or epigastrium aching in l. breast; pressure and distension in stomach. ─ Nausea in night before diarrhœa. ─ Sensation of hard substance in pit of stomach. ─ Fulness and pressure in pit of stomach extending toward throat-pit; descends with every empty deglutition but immediately returns. ─ Tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back; clothes seem too tight; weak feeling in epigastrium, all < when talking; frequently takes a long breath. ─ Shooting from pit of stomach to chest; sharp in l. chest; slight nausea; dull aching in forehead. ─ Aching and shooting in pit of stomach and above it on each side of sternum. ─ Eructations; empty; tasteless. ─ Hiccough. ─ Pyrosis. ─ Nausea; > by eructations. ─ Nausea and vertigo while dressing in morning, compelling him to lie down again. ─ Sensation of undigested food and upward pressure in throat-pit. ─ Severe pain in digestive organs on waking. ─ Pain in stomach with the pain in the lungs. ─ Burning and cutting in stomach.

Abdomen

Pain in hypochondrium from walking or deep inspiration. ─ Griping near navel partially > by discharge of offensive flatus; flatulent colic soon after a meal. ─ Pain occurring or < during inspiration. ─ Sensation of heaviness and fulness in abdomen with rumbling. ─ Borborygmus. ─ Pain in abdomen in morning, followed by a stool. ─ Colic from a cold, with cough.

Stool and Anus

Stools: painless, offensive, profuse; brown or black, thin or watery; preceded by pain in abdomen. ─ Before stool: sudden urging, driving him out of bed in morning. ─ Morning diarrhœa, with cough from tickling in throat-pit. ─ Diarrhœa 6 to 10 a.m. ─ Copious diarrhœic stool with colic pain just above hypogastrium, and a very disagreeable rumbling in bowels together with nausea and loss of appetite; these sensations continued throughout the day with four or five evacuations which passed away in a stream as if a large quantity would be discharged; nevertheless each discharge was suddenly arrested, and the inclination passed away entirely for a short time; but on rising the urgency returned, and on returning to the closet a new stream poured forth as before. ─ Fæces black; scanty. ─ Constipation for several days, followed by a dry, hard stool. ─ Itching at anus with discharge of offensive flatus. ─ Sensation as from pressure of a rough stick forced up rectum, painful on walking. ─ Hæmorrhoids protrude; much heat and itching at anus, and sensation as if a foreign body there.

Urinary Organs

Sudden urging. ─ Frequent inclination with feeling as if urine could not long be retained. ─ Involuntary micturition with cough. ─ Copious colourless urine in afternoon. ─ Urine less copious, flocculent deposit, oily surface; marked brick-dust sediment.

Male Sexual Organs

Tendency to phimosis. ─ During evening feeling of soreness and excoriation, with redness of end of prepuce. ─ Itching of prepuce. ─ Sexual desire diminished; lost.

Respiratory Organs

Hoarseness < evenings: voice uncertain. ─ Voice: changes suddenly on two consecutive days at 2 p.m. rose several notes; higher with catarrh nasal. ─ Aphonia after exposure to cold. ─ (Reflex aphonia from tubercle of l. apex.). ─ Tenacious mucus in larynx, constant desire to hawk. ─ Violent irritation to cough in larynx while eating (at three meals). ─ (Cough all day, > lying down at night.). ─ Pain in top of larynx; mostly l. side. ─ Dry, spasmodic cough, like beginning of whooping-cough; in paroxysms; preceded by tickling in throat-pit, with congestion and slight pains in head, and wrenching pains in r. chest; began a few minutes after lying down at night (11 p.m.); lasted 10 to 15 minutes, after which he slept all right; a less severe paroxysm in bed on waking and throughout day this lasted two weeks, when he began to expectorate adhesive mucus in small quantities, detached with difficulty. ─ Hacking cough. ─ Cough < by any irregularity of breathing. ─ Hoarse, hacking cough 11 p.m. and 2 to 5 a.m. ─ Cough with pain behind mid-sternum. ─ Pressure on throat = cough. ─ Dry, tickling, spasmodic cough, with tenderness in larynx and trachea, rendering cough quite painful. ─ Teasing periodical cough, < in cool air or by anything which increases the volume or rapidity of inspired air. ─ Cough < from changing rooms. ─ Cough originally caused by inhaling extremely cold air during winter, < lying down, esp. 11 p.m. ─ Cough provoked by change from cold to warm or warm to cold. ─ Cough < lying l. side; > lying r. > covering up mouth; > wearing respirator. ─ Sensation of breathlessness as if air did not penetrate chest; or as when falling or passing rapidly through the air. ─ Frequent feeling as if she could not get another breath.

Chest

Clavicular pain; raw pain just under each clavicle while hawking mucus from throat. ─ Pain in chest: in both sides; dull aching in anterior part, with headache and belching. ─ Sharp stitching or stinging through l. lung. ─ Acute stitch along l. margin of sternum. ─ Burning stinging: in l. side near heart; in whole l. chest suddenly when taking a deep inspiration while in act of lying down in bed at night. ─ At 3.30 p.m., while writing, at desk, stitches in substance of l. lung. ─ Burning, shooting pain in r. chest. ─ Sharp pain near l. axilla. ─ Pain in centre of l. lung. ─ Sternum feels sprained. ─ Great pressure and sense of depression in upper part of breast. ─ Very sharp pain in breast running r. to l. ─ Sharp cutting pain in l. breast at noon lasting an hour.

Heart

Heart feels as if it suddenly stopped beating; followed by a heavy throbbing. ─ Dull pain in region of heart, with dull pain and heaviness in l. upper arm, esp. elbow. ─ Dull pain in heart on deep inspirations. ─ Burning in region of heart. ─ Severe stinging in region of heart, extending through chest to apex of l. scapula, with frequent desire to take a deep breath, which < the pain (afternoon for two or three hours). ─ Sharp pain in l. side of heart. ─ Palpitation: after supper; < going upstairs; violent with throbbing carotids.

Neck and Back

Sensation as if a thread were tightly tied round neck just below ears, with a slight roaring in the ears. ─ Pain: in back of neck; running down back. ─ Aching between scapulæ. ─ Stinging burning just below inferior angle of l. scapula; followed and accompanied by stinging, almost itching pain l. chest just below nipple. ─ Pain under r. scapula. ─ Pain in l. scapula. ─ Burning pain in small of back near tip of r. sacro-iliac joint. ─ Sore pain in l. sacro-iliac joint, lame as from over-lifting; < by sudden motion; followed by pulsation in nates. ─ Aching and sense of great fatigue in loins.

Limbs

Twitching of r. arm and leg. ─ Pain in upper and lower limbs of same or opposite side.

Upper Limbs

Pains in shoulder down to elbow, arms feel strained. ─ Hands cold when coughing. ─ Bruised aching and stinging pain in arms, hands, elbows, and r. wrist.

Lower Limbs

Stitching in back of r. hip; limping walk. ─ Legs ache. ─ Stitch-like pain in knee-joint when standing. ─ Legs covered with small red pimples. ─ Feet cold. ─ Feet sensitive, stinging in corns. ─ Tender feet.

Generalities

Lassitude and weariness. ─ Restless in evening. ─ Pains not fixed or constant anywhere. ─ Throbbing through whole body. ─ Unusual sensitiveness to cold or open air.

Skin

Itching in various parts, < on lower limbs. ─ Eruption covered uniformly several regions of skin, with exception of face; itching more of a pricking than a burning; < by cold, > by warmth. ─ Contagious prurigo or "army itch.". ─ Stinging-itching or prickling itching of skin. ─ Vesicular eruption, itching when uncovered and exposed to cool air. ─ Periodic itch. ─ Urticaria; < in open air.

Sleep

Sleep: disturbed; wakeful, restless; short naps and unpleasant fancies, even when awake. ─ Unpleasant dreams; of danger and trouble; early in the morning; of being naked in the street; of murders; of autopsies. ─ Wakes early with headache.

Fever

Chilly, < on back; colic, nausea, stitches near middle of chest. ─ Increased frequency of pulse and afternoon fever. ─ Sensation of heat, followed by that of cold, without shivering. ─ Flushes of heat, < on cheeks. ─ Sweat on waking from a sound sleep.

The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica

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

Mind

Low-spirited : with serious expression of face ; with suicidal mood.
Irritable ; disinclined to mental exertion.

Sensorium

Dull feeling in head (with the cough).

Inner head

Headache after waking in morning, preceded by a disagreeable dream.
Dull pains : on right side ; in occiput ; in forehead, with bruised feeling, < on motion.
Darting pain, or sharp piercing, in left side of head.
Catarrhal headache, with great irritation of larynx and trachea, clavicular pain and soreness behind sternum.

Sight and eyes

Pain in eyes as from dryness ; lids inflamed, < in evening.
Sore feeling in eyes, without inflammation.

Hearing and ears

Ringing in ears.
Itching deep in ears.

Smell and nose

Great desire to pick nose.
Nose obstructed ; dry sensation, even in posterior nares.
Sudden, sharp tingling sensation in Schneiderian membrane, followed by violent and rapid sneezing, five or six times in succession, with a watery discharge from nostrils.
Violent sneezing ; with fluent coryza < in evening and at night.
Coryza : fluent, with sneezing ; with headache ; < evening and night.
Accumulation of mucus about posterior nares.
Yellow mucus discharged through posterior nares.
Epistaxis, violent sneezing and painful irritation of nostrils.
Influenza with violent catarrh, followed by bronchitis.

Upper face

Heat of face : redness < evenings ; dull headache ; with pulsation over whole body.

Taste, speech, tongue

Bitter taste (morning).
Dry tongue and mouth ; tongue feels as if burned.
Tongue coated : white ; yellow ; yellowish-brown or reddish-brown.

Inner mouth

Ulceration of mouth and throat.

Palate and throat

Scraping in throat ; excoriated feeling with secretion of mucus in upper part.
Sensation of a lump in throat, not > by hawking or swallowing, it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns.
Aching in pharynx, with collection of tough mucus in fauces.
Catarrhal affections of throat and fauces.

Eating and drinking

After meals : flatulency ; heaviness in stomach or epigastrium ; aching in left breast ; pressure and distension in stomach.

Hiccough, belching, nausea and vomiting

Nausea in night, before diarrhœa.

Scrobiculum and stomach

Sensation of heaviness in epigastrium, immediately after eating.
Sensation as of a hard substance in pit of stomach.
Weight, pressure and distension in stomach after meals.
Fulness and pressure in pit of stomach extending toward throat pit ; descends with every empty deglutition, but immediately returns.
Tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back ; clothes seem to tight ; weak feeling in epigastrium, all < when talking ; frequently takes a long breath.
Shooting from pit of stomach to chest ; sharp in left chest ; slight nausea ; dull aching in forehead.
Aching and shooting in pit of stomach and above it on each side of sternum.
Distress in stomach pit, < after eating, especially apples ; once after an apple such distress that she became cold and unconscious and seemed to be dying ; at times sharp pains in chest and abdomen ; at times very distressing sensation as of a bunch either in
throat or behind sternum ; emaciated ; could scarcely find anything she could eat without distress.
Pain in pit of stomach ; aching in left chest ; flatulence ; eructations ; pressure and distension in stomach after meals.
Aching in pit of stomach, and aching and shootings above it in chest, at, and especially on each side of lower end of sternum ; after a cup of tea, in a man unaccustomed to its use.
Aching pain in pit of stomach, gradually becoming very severe ; sharp stitching pains in stomach extending into chest, and below a sensation of pressure like a lump in pit of stomach, sometimes rising up under sternum, greatly < from motion and somewhat from taking a long
breath ; generally < after eating ; > lying perfectly quiet.
Distress in stomach becoming so severe that she could not sit up ; severe aching pains in stomach pit and above it ; occasional spells of sharp shooting pains in chest, sides and abdomen ; some headache and nausea after eating ; all symptoms < from motion and
eating ; sensation as of a lump or pressure sometimes in throat, sometimes behind sternum.
Tight, suffocative, dull, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back ; clothes seem too tight ; weak feeling in epigastrium ; all < by talking ; frequently obliged to get a long breath and to yawn, with watering of eyes ; stitching pains in back of right
hip ; limping walk.

Hypochondria

Pain in hypochondrium from walking or deep inspiration.

Abdomen and loins

Griping near navel, partially > by discharge of offensive flatus ; flatulent colic soon after a meal.
Pain occurring, or < during deep inspiration.
Sensation of hardness and fulness in abdomen, with rumbling.
Pain in abdomen in morning, followed by a stool.
Colic from a cold, with cough.

Stools and rectum

Stools : painless, offensive, profuse ; brown or black, thin or watery ; preceded by pain in abdomen ; before stool, sudden urging, driving him out of bed in morning.
Morning diarrhœa, with cough from tickling in throat pit.
Brown, watery diarrhœa, chiefly in morning, having five stools from 5 to 9 A. M., attended by moderate griping pain in lower part of abdomen ; cough.
Diarrhœa every morning for four days ; evacuations profuse, offensive and thin, even watery ; cough excited by tickling in throat pit, usually dry ; when expectoration occurs it is tasteless ; cough shocks the stomach and is attended by a sensation of excoriation in
chest ; it keeps her awake at night.
Diarrhœa in morning ; four evacuations between 6 and 10 A. M. ; very thin, painless ; nausea on movement in night preceding evacuation ; mouth dry ; tongue coated slightly yellow ; day previous had dull pain on right side of sternum, sharp pain on
left ; during climaxis.
Serious attack of diarrhœa in an old man of 70, after failure of Sulphur ; early morning aggravation ; nausea ; colic ; tickling cough, < by cool air and talking.
Feces hard, tough, brown ; costive.
Itching at anus with discharge of offensive flatus.
Sensation as from pressure of a stick in rectum.

Urinary organs

Sudden urging.
Frequent inclination to urinate, with sensation as if urine could not long be retained.
Involuntary micturition, with cough.
Copious, colorless urine, in afternoon.

Voice and larynx. trachea and bronchia

Hoarseness, < evenings ; voice uncertain.
Sudden change of voice at different times, or at same time on each day, or with cough.
Voice : higher, as with catarrh ; nasal ; hoarse, especially in evening.
Aphonia after exposure to cold.
Reflex aphonia due to infiltration of tubercle in apex of left lung.
Catarrhal aphonia, with irritation in suprasternal fossa, exciting a distressing cough.
Tenacious mucus in throat or larynx, constant desire to hawk.
Hawking of mucus from larynx.
Desire to hawk phlegm, which is felt in larynx like moving to and fro, without succeeding ; < in cold air ; < at night.
Much tough mucus in larynx, with a constant cough and desire to raise it, but without relief ; morning diarrhœa.
Tenacious mucus in throat or larynx ; a constant desire to hawk ; coughing and hawking < at night ; scraping in throat ; cough excited by tickling or irritation behind sternum ; cough attended with pain in head ; sudden change of voice at same hour on
consecutive days ; change of voice at different times.
Hawking of mucus from upper part of larynx and throat ; with burning soreness ; extending later to left bronchus ; renewed by a stronger exhalation or scraping.
Hawking of mucus from larynx, with burning soreness ; voice hoarse, especially in evening ; tickling in throat ; coughing < by pressure on larynx ; forced, barking cough, with soreness of larynx and chest.
Tickling in throat pit causing cough.
Violent irritation to cough in larynx while eating.
Pain in larynx : while eating ; in top of larynx ; mostly on left side ; with excoriating cough.
Raw sensation in larynx, when coughing.
Acute catarrhal affections of larynx, trachea and bronchi ; dry, frequent, continuous cough, in long paroxysms, or, under certain circumstances, almost uninterrupted, and out of proportion to degree of organic affection of mucous membrane ; induced,
or greatly < by any irregularity of respiration, such as a little deeper or more rapid inspiration than usual, by inspiration of air a little colder than that previously inhaled, by irregularity of respiration and irregular motions of larynx and trachea, such as are involved in the act of
speech, and by external pressure upon trachea in region of suprasternal fossa ; great irritability of mucous membrane of larynx and trachea ; rawness and soreness in trachea, extending a short distance below suprasternal fossa and laterally into bronchi, chiefly left ;
tickling in suprasternal fossa and behind sternum provokes cough ; this tickling is very annoying and persistent and is often, but momentarily, and sometimes only partially, > by coughing ; cough occurs chiefly, or is much < in evening after retiring, and at that time the
membrane of trachea is particularly sensitive to cold air and to any irregularity in the flow of air over its surface, so that patient often covers head with bedclothes to avoid the cold air and refuses to speak or even listen to conversation, lest his attention should be withdrawn from the
supervision of his respiratory acts, which he performs with the most careful uniformity and deliberation.
Has not been able to speak above a whisper for nearly three months ; soreness in throat < during empty deglutition, but is not < by swallowing food ; posterior surface of pharynx irritated and in places excoriated, edges of soft palate
and uvula red and swollen, and covered with an eruption of minute red pimples ; slight hacking cough, produced by tickling in larynx and upper part of trachea ; after taking cold.

Respiration

Frequent feeling as if she could not get another breath.
Sensation of breathlessness, as if air did not penetrate chest, or like what is felt when falling or passing very rapidly through air.
Breathing causes soreness behind sternum.
Rattling in windpipe ; frequent feeling as if she could not get another breath (compare Apis), coughing spells several times a day, lasting one and a half hours at a time and originating in a sense of great accumulation of tough mucus in chest, with
increased dyspnœa and desire to cough it up, causing a general hot sweat half an hour before spell (increasing during it) ; cough very hard, with feeling of suffocation, reaching to epigastrium, as if tough phlegm must work up ; severe soreness behind whole sternum, spreading to
each side ; constant but < during cough ; much tough mucus is brought up during spell ; during its continuance feels like killing herself in despair ; afterward prostrate and tearful. θ Asthma.
Asthma of consumptives ; aggravation 2 A. M.

Cough

Hoarse, barking cough ; in attacks, every night at 11 P. M., and at 2 and 5 A. M. (children).
Cough, with pain behind mid-sternum.
Dry, incessant, fatiguing cough, caused by tickling in throat pit, extending to behind sternum and to stomach ; soreness in larynx and behind sternum ; rawness under clavicles ; pain in stomach ; stitches in left lung ; cough <
from changing rooms, evening after lying down, touching or pressing throat pit, from slightest inhalation of cool air, covers head with bedclothes to make air warmer.
Hawking with burning soreness in larynx ; later in left bronchus, renewed by strong exhalation and scraping.
Dry spasmodic cough, simulating early stage of whooping cough, at first dry, coming on in paroxysms preceded by tickling in throat pit, attended by congestion and slight pain in head and wrenching pains in right side of chest ; the most violent paroxysm began a few
moments after lying down at night, usually at about 11 o'clock ; this paroxysm lasted ten or fifteen minutes, after which he slept all night ; a less severe paroxysm occurred in bed, in morning after waking, and at various times through day ; after two weeks, expectoration of
adhesive mucus in small quantities, detached with difficulty.
Hacking cough.
Pressure on throat causes cough.
Cough as soon as he turns on left side.
The most violent cough occurs a few moments after lying down and at night ; in some cases complete aphonia.
Severe cough, provoked by pressure on trachea, deep inspirations, inhalation of cold air and talking ; cough severe, explosive and continuous, hurts the head, accompanied by involuntary micturition ; < latter part of night.
Dry, tickling, spasmodic, cough, with tenderness in larynx and trachea, rendering cough quite painful.
Teasing, persistent cough, < in cool air, or by anything which increases the volume or rapidity of inspired air.
Dry, hacking, incessant, very fatiguing cough, excited by tickling in suprasternal fossa, extending downward to middle of sternum, with a sensation as if a feather were swaying to and fro in bronchi with respiration, causing a tickling which provokes cough.
Cough begins with tickling behind top of sternum and sometimes in paroxysms of five to ten minutes duration ; trachea sore to outward pressure, feels excoriated through its whole extent, as do also the whole fauces ; cough excited by pressure
on throat pit ; cough is violent with scanty, difficult expectoration, shocks head and chest, head as if it would fly into pieces and he feels as if he might raise blood any minute ; greatly exhausted after the paroxysms of coughing ; head aches during cough.
Dry cough ; tickling in throat pit ; continued desire to cough on breathing cold air, < after retiring to bed ; obliged to cover mouth with bedclothes and use every effort to prevent coughing ; occasional pains through both lungs extending up into trachea ;
feels weak and exhausted in morning ; very frequently a rawness in throat in morning.
Is very nervous ; confusion of head ; hoarseness in evenings ; cough ; excoriation behind whole of sternum on coughing and on inspiration ; coldness of fingers.
Cough originally produced by inhalation of extremely cold air during Winter ; cough < lying down, and especially at 11 o'clock at night ; excited by tickling behind sternum and attended by a sprainlike aching near sternum and with accumulation of mucus in fauces near
posterior nares.
Cough about 11 P. M. when lying on left side ; awoke between 1 and 2 A. M. with cough in any position ; it made the chest feel bruised and seemed as if it did not reach low enough down to raise the phlegm, and when it did loosen it, it caused soreness of chest ; after
catching cold from exposure to cold early morning air.
Severe cold for several days ; pulse quick, not hard, 110, skin moderately hot and dry, face somewhat flushed ; respiration embarrassed not so much by any constriction of chest as by violent and long-continued cough, which follows any attempt to make a full inspiration ;
physical examination of chest reveals nothing abnormal ; roughness and soreness in lower part of trachea and behind upper third of sternum much more perceptible when she coughs ; cough dry, slightly hoarse, very violent and fatiguing ; it is provoked by a tickling in
suprasternal fossa, is induced by pressure upon trachea in that region and especially by talking and by deep inspiration or by inspiration of cool air ; this irritability of trachea increases very markedly after 7 P. M., so that she suffers exceedingly from the constant tickling and
violent cough ; she can prevent it only by respiring with great caution and deliberation, by avoiding all distractions of speech and conversation, and finally she draws bedclothes over head in order to avoid inhaling cool air of chamber.
Severe dry cough at times for several years ; cough < in evening ; unable to breathe the cold air of his bedroom and has a severe coughing spell in morning on rising and at times during day, especially on taking a deep inspiration ; is thin and rather emaciated ;
has frequent night sweats ; tickling in throat and at top of sternum ; after coughing some time, rawness in throat of a very disagreeable character, extending from pharynx down beneath upper portion of sternum, accompanied by a burning sensation through upper lobes of both lungs
(clavicular region), with loss of appetite and considerable prostration, on examination no indication of presence of tubercles.
Contracted cold in head, throat and lungs ; cough hard, dry and explosive, provoked by tickling in throat, talking, deep inspiration, inhaling cold air, < in lying ; hurts the head and is accompanied by involuntary micturition.
Contracted cold ; cough dry, hoarse, barking, sounding like croup, accompanied by fever.
Constant dry, barking, spasmodic cough. θ Chronic pneumonia.
Cough originating in larynx, where loud mucous rattling could be heard ; returns every ten seconds during day, less frequent at night.
Subject to eight miscarriages, all in early stage of pregnancy, which in each case was early attended by dry, shaking, spasmodic cough, in paroxysms of great violence, instrumental in producing the abortions ; at beginning of ninth pregnancy had her cough, which was very dry, harsh,
loud, shaking, < at night, preventing sleep, excited instantly and violently by pressure on trachea.
Cough provoked by change from warm to cold, or cool to warm air, also by change in rhythm of respiration.
Constant dry cough lasting many months in a woman disposed to consumption.
Aching from shoulder blades down back or kidneys.
In women every fit of coughing produces the passage of a few drops of urine.
Dry cough commencing at 2 A. M.
Cough on changing rooms.
Night cough of phthisis, with or without clavicular pain.

Inner chest and lungs

Pain in chest : in both sides.
Dull aching in anterior portion of both lungs day and night, for five days, accompanied by headache and pain in stomach, also belching of wind.
Fine stitches in left lung, at 3.30 P. M., while writing.
Sharp stitching or stinging pains through left lung ; when patient turns left side feels sore ; early stages of phthisis. θ Pleurodynia.
Very acute stitch along left margin of sternum on inspiration, in afternoon while riding.
Burning-stinging pain in left side, near heart, soon after lying down in bed ; gradually moved up into great pectoral muscles about two inches above and to left of nipple and continued for a long time ; < from deep inspiration and by lying on back or right side ; >
lying on l. side.
Burning-stinging pain in whole left side of chest, suddenly when taking a deep inspiration, while in the act of lying down in bed at night.
Stinging, almost itching pain in left side of chest, just below nipple, followed and accompanied stinging, burning pain in back.
Burning pain in left side of chest, just below nipple, < on taking a deep inspiration.
Severe pain in both sides and felt as if in lungs.
Clavicular pain ; raw pain just under each clavicle while hawking mucus from throat.
Burning-sticking or burning-stinging pain in left chest near heart ; < from deep breathing and lying down in bed at night ; rheumatism.
Burning, shooting pain in right chest.
Sharp pain near left axilla.
Pain in centre of left lung.
The sternum feels sprained.
Great dyspnœa ; constant, dry, hacking cough ; mucous rale at apex of right lung, with slight dulness ; haggard countenance ; commenced coughing two years before ; sometimes pain in left side just below nipple ; cannot
expectorate ; cough excited by tickling in larynx and suprasternal fossa ; sensation of a lump in throat not > by hawking or swallowing ; tough mucus in larynx with desire to raise it, but without relief ; diarrhœa ; thighs and back covered with small red
pimples ; night sweats and restless nights ; cough < in morning, on entering warm room from cold air, on stopping after a walk, on first lying down at night, in smoke, or in kitchen where cooking is being done. θ Incipient
phthisis.

Heart, pulse and circulation

Heart feels as if it suddenly stopped beating, followed by a heavy throbbing through chest.
Burning in region of heart.
Dull pain in region of heart ; stinging ; < when lying down and breathing deeply.
Violent palpitation of heart with throbbing of carotids and throughout body, visible to eye and shaking bed ; pulse 120 ; violent aching pain in region of heart ; great dyspnœa, especially while lying so that he had to be propped up in a sitting
posture ; face red and puffed, especially about eyes, which were red, heavy and lustreless ; tongue coated with white fur, red tip and edges ; excessive thirst ; no appetite ; costive.
Pulse accelerated, mostly when going up stairs.

Neck and back

Pressing aching in back, at lower border of scapula.
Sore or burning pain near sacro-iliac symphysis.

Upper limbs

Pains in shoulder down to elbow, arms feel strained.
Hands cold when coughing.

Lower limbs

Stitching in back of right hip ; limping walk.
Legs ache.
Stitch-like pain in knee joint, when standing.
Legs covered with small red pimples.
Feet cold.
Feet sensitive ; stinging in corns.

Rest. position. motion

Lying down : cough < ; soon after burning pain near heart ; while in the act, burning pain in chest ; stinging in region of heart <.
Lying quiet : distress or pain in pit of stomach >.
Lying on left side : pain near heart >.
Standing : stitch-like pain in knee joint.
Motion : pains in head ; pressure in pit of stomach < ; causes nausea.
Talking : tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium <.
Turning on left side : cough <.
Walking : pain in hypochondrium.
Going up stairs : pulse accelerated.

Nerves

Great debility ; averse to work ; indifferent to his surroundings.
Restlessness in evening.
Sensitive to open air.

Sleep

Sleep disturbed ; wakeful, restless ; short naps and unpleasant fancies, even when awake.
Unpleasant dreams.
Unquiet sleep, dreams of danger and trouble Wakes early, with headache.

Time

Morning : headache after waking ; bitter taste ; sudden urging to stool drives him out of bed ; diarrhœa ; rawness in throat ; weak and exhausted.
At 2 A. M. : dry cough commences.
Afternoon : copious, colorless urine ; stitch on margin of sternum ; fever.
At 3.30 P. M. : stitches in left lung.
Evening : lids inflamed < ; fluent coryza < ; heat of face < ; hoarseness < ; cough < ; hoarseness.
Day and night : aching in lungs.
Night : fluent coryza < ; nausea ; desire to hawk phlegm ; latter part, cough < ; burning, stinging pain in chest <.

Temperature and weather

Warmth : prurigo >.
Covering mouth with bedclothes : prevents cough.
While undressing : itching on various parts, < in lower limbs.
Changing rooms : cough <.
Change from cold or cool to warm air : provokes cough.
Open air : sensitive to ; urticaria <.
Cool air : cough < ; vesicular eruption itching when exposed.
Exposure to cold : aphonia.
Cold : prurigo <.
Cold air : desire to hawk phlegm < ; cough < ; inhalations cause cough.

Fever

Chilly, < on back ; colic, nausea, stitches near middle of chest.
Increased frequency of pulse, and afternoon fever.
Sensation of heat, followed by that of cold, without shivering.
Flushes of heat < on cheeks.
Sweat on waking from a sound sleep.

Attacks, periodicity

From 5 to 9 A. M. : five stools.
From 6 to 10 A. M. : four stools.
Every ten seconds : cough.
Every morning for four days : diarrhœa.
After 7 P. M. : irritability of trachea <.
At same time each day : sudden change of voice.
Several times a day : coughing spells lasting one and a half hours at a time.
Every night at 11 P. M., between 1 and 2 A. M. and at 2 and 5 A. M. : attacks of cough.
For several years : at times dry cough.

Locality and direction

Right : pain in side of occiput ; pain in hip ; dull pain on side of sternum ; pains in side of chest ; shooting pain in chest ; mucous rale at apex of lung ; stitches in back of hip.
Left : sharp pain in side of head ; aching in breast ; sharp pain in chest ; tubercles in apex of lung ; burning soreness of bronchus ; pain in side of larynx ; stitches in lung ; soreness in bronchus ; when turning on side, cough ; fine
stitches in lung ; stitching or stinging pains through lung ; side feels sore when turning ; stitch along margin of sternum ; burning, stinging pain near heart ; burning stinging near nipple ; > lying on side ; burning stinging pain in whole side of
chest ; almost itching pain in chest ; sharp pain in axillæ ; pain in centre of lung.

Sensations

Eyes pain as if from dryness ; tongue as if burned ; as of a lump in throat ; as of a hard substance in pit of stomach ; as of a bunch in throat or behind sternum ; as of pressure of a stick in rectum ; as if urine could not long be
retained ; as if she could not get another breath ; as if air did not penetrate chest ; as if a feather were swaying to and fro in bronchi ; as if head would fly into pieces ; as if he might raise blood any minute ; as if cough did not reach low enough down to
raise phlegm ; as if heart suddenly stopped beating.
Pain : in pit of stomach ; in hypochondrium ; in abdomen ; in head ; in larynx ; in stomach ; through both lungs ; in chest ; in centre of left lung ; in left side just below nipple ; in shoulder down to elbow.
Severe pain : in both sides as if in lungs.
Sharp pains : in chest and abdomen ; on left side of sternum ; near left axilla.
Darting pain : in left side of head.
Piercing : in left side of head.
Shooting : from pit of stomach to chest ; in left chest ; on each side of lower end of sternum ; in abdomen.
Burning, shooting pain : in right chest.
Wrenching pains : in right side of chest.
Stitches : in left lung ; very acute along left margin of sternum ; in back of right hip.
Sharp stitching pains : in stomach into chest ; in back of r. hip ; through left lung.
Stitchlike pain : in knee joint.
Burning-stinging pain : in left side, near heart ; in back.
Stinging, almost itching pain : in left side of chest.
Burning pain : in left side of chest near sacro-iliac symphysis.
Raw pain : just under each clavicle.
Griping : near navel ; in lower part of abdomen.
Aching : in pharynx ; in left breast ; in epigastrium ; in forehead ; in pit of stomach and above it on each side of sternum ; from shoulder blades down back or kidneys ; in anterior portion of both lungs ; in region of heart ; in legs.
Tight, suffocative, dull, heavy ache : in epigastrium through to back.
Sprain-like aching : near sternum.
Pressing aching : in back at lower border of scapula.
Dull pains : on right side ; in occiput ; in forehead ; on right side of sternum ; in region of heart.
Burning : in region of heart.
Burning sensation : through upper lobes of lungs.
Sharp, tingling sensation : in Schneiderian membrane.
Stinging : in region of heart ; in corns.
Soreness : behind sternum ; in eyes ; burning of larynx and throat ; of larynx and chest ; of trachea ; lower part of trachea.
Raw sensation : in larynx ; in trachea ; under clavicles.
Excoriated feeling : in upper part of throat ; in chest ; behind sternum.
Bruised feeling : in forehead.
Scraping : in throat.
Tenderness : in larynx and trachea.
Distress : in stomach pit.
Tickling : in throat pit ; in suprasternal fossa and behind sternum.
Heavy throbbing : through chest.
Heaviness : in stomach or epigastrium.
Pressure : in stomach ; in pit of stomach, extending toward throat.
Hardness : in abdomen.
Dull feeling : in head.
Distension : in stomach.
Fulness : in abdomen.
Weak feeling : in epigastrium.
Dryness : of tongue and mouth.
Dry sensation : in nose.
Itching : deep in ears ; at anus ; in various parts on lower limbs.
Coldness : of fingers ; of hands ; of feet.

Touch. passive motion. injuries

Touch : on throat pit ; cough <.
Pressure : on larynx, cough < ; on throat pit, cough < ; on trachea causes severe cough.
Riding : stitch along margin of sternum.

Skin

Itching in various parts, < on lower limbs, while undressing.
Eruption covered uniformly several regions of skin with exception of face ; itching more of a pricking than a burning character ; < by cold, and > by warmth. θ Prurigo.
Contagious prurigo or "army itch."
Stinging-itching, or prickling-itching of skin.
Vesicular eruption, itching when uncovered and exposed to cool air.
Prairie itch.
Urticaria ; < in open air.

Stage of life, constitution

Boy, æt. 4 ; cough.
Boy, æt. 5 ; diarrhœa.
Girl, æt. 6, suffering three weeks ; cough.
Girl, æt. 6, after catching cold ; cough.
Girl, æt. 12, suffering four days ; diarrhœa.
Joseph H., æt. 13, subject to violent attacks of inflammatory rheumatism, heart being implicated ; pain in cardiac region.
Miss C., æt. 20, robust, healthy, after exposure ; aphonia.
Woman, æt. 22, feeble constitution, strumous, subject for several years to subacute rheumatism ; cough.
Miss W., young lady of highly nervous temperament ; cough.
Man, æt. 23, nervous temperament, suffering several years, thinks himself consumptive ; cough.
Miss B., æt. 25, clear, white, very smooth skin, rather pale, dark-auburn hair, full round figure, after catching cold three months ago ; sore throat, aphonia.
Man, æt. 26, nervous, sanguine temperament ; cough.
Man, æt. 26, dark complexion, married ; incipient phthisis.
Mrs. G., æt. 30, suffering five days ; cough.
Woman, æt. 35, married, suffering four days ; diarrhœa.
Mrs. A., æt. 45 ; cough.
Lady, æt. about 50, suffering three weeks ; pain in stomach.
Lady, æt. about 50, suffering four days ; diarrhœa.
Man, æt. 70 ; diarrhœa.
Farmer, suffering three years ; prurigo.

Relations

Antidoted by : Camphor., Bellad., Hyosc., Conium, Laches., Phosphor .
Compare : Apis, Bellad., Calc. carb., Caustic., Cistus, Dulcam., Eryngium, Hepar sulph., Iris, Iodium, Juglans, Laches., Lycopod., Lobelia, Mercur., Nuphar, Phosphor., Podoph., Rheum, Sanguin., Spongia, Sulphur .

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica

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

Lecture

Rumex, the yellow dock, is a neglected remedy, and one that has been only partially proved.

The mental symptoms have not been brought out, but the catarrhal symptoms have been well expressed by provers.

There is a state of sadness, low spirited; aversion to work; irritable mental excitability. This includes about all the mental state we know of this remedy, as the provings were made with the lower potencies and tincture.

The yellow dock has been used in domestic practice, as a blood medicine, to cure eruptions and boils. When used in this way it is a mild substance, and hence the provings are somewhat in this form.

The catarrhal tendency is very striking. The nose, eyes, chest and trachea, the whole respiratory tract, gives forth a copious flow, copious mucous discharge. I have seen it so copious from the nose that it seemed as one continuous flow; so copious from the trachea and bronchial tubes that the patient continually hawked up, by the mouthful, thin frothy, white mucus, so that in a little while as much as half a pint of thin mucus, as thin as water, would be in the cuspidor. It also has marked dryness of the larynx and trachea with hard, dry, spasmodic cough.

At times it has taken the form of grippe, with a copious mucous discharge; thin, watery, frothy expectoration by the mouthful. This is only the first stage. Following this the discharge becomes thick, yellow, tough or thick, white and tenacious; so ropy and stringy and tough that in spite of blowing the nose and coughing he fails to get it up. Completely exhausted from his efforts to expectorate the tough, stringy, tenacious even gluey mucus. This catarrhal state is commonly accompanied by a morning diarrhea, and these constitute the leading features.

"Catarrhal headache with great irritation of the larynx and trachea, clavicular pain and soreness behind sternum."

Catarrhal headaches are headaches that come on during spells of dryness, alternating with a copious flux. Extreme rawness in the larynx and trachea; burning and smarting; unable to endure pressure on the throat pit.

Tickling in the throat pit causing cough. Must sit without motion; cannot breathe deeply, hurriedly or irregularly because the burning is so much increased by any change in breathing.

If he steps into the open air a paroxysmal cough takes his breath away; or if he passes from the open air into a warm room the same paroxysmal cough comes on. The paroxysm is so violent that in the morning, when he has a loose stool, he will pass it involuntarily with the cough. The urine also passes away with the cough. The headache returns when the discharges slack up.

A striking feature is pain under the clavicle; a sense of rawness under the clavicle; as if the parts inside were raw; as if the air came directly under the clavicle, producing rawness and burning. Rawness and burning from the inhalation of air.

"Nose obstructed; dry sensation even in posterior nares."

Many times the coryza starts out by a marked dryness in the posterior nares, so that he is constantly hawking; the irritation is so great that he cannot let it alone. There is a sensation of thickening in the nasopharynx, and he produces a peculiar noise in trying to get rid of it.

"Sudden sharp tingling sensation in Schneiderian membrane."

This is intense; tingling, sometimes described as an itching extending from the end of the nose to the pharynx; sometimes forces sneezing, blowing the nose and this peculiar noise, and sometimes a hawking to get the mucus when it isi a little lower in the pharynx; hemming to get rid of it when in the larynx. The inflammation passes to the smallest bronchi, producing a capillary bronchitis and finally a pneumonia.

It suits acute and chronic catarrhal states. In old phthisical cases every time be takes a cold, he is so sensitive to cold air and change of air that he sleeps with the bed clothes over his mouth. Every breath of air causes a spasmodic cough.

The early expectoration is thin mucus, and then it becomes thicker and tenacious, and he cannot expectorate it; he hears the rattle, after many efforts which exhaust him; he expectorates a little with hardly any relief. This is a great remedy to do patch work with in phthisis. Soreness, rawness and burning, especially down the trachea and tinder the sternum.

"Violent sneezing, with fluent coryza, worse in the evening and at night."

Many symptoms are worse in the evening.

"Coryza, fluent, with sneezing, with headache, worse evening and night."

Some symptoms are worse in the early morning. Certain kinds of cough are worse at 11 P.M . Lachesis and Rumex furnish a puzzle in this cough and each has to be understood.

In Lachesis young children cough in their early sleep, but if kept awake they will not cough. Therefore in Lachesis the 11 P.M . cough is an aggravation from sleep. In Rumex the cough will come on at 11 o'clock whether the child is asleep or not.

"Accumulation of mucus in posterior nares."

"Yellow mucous discharge through posterior nares."

"Epistaxis, violent sneezing and painful irritation of nostrils."

"Influenza with violent catarrh, followed by bronchitis."

"Scraping in the throat;" whenever this catarrhal state goes into the larynx and trachea, there is this continual scraping in the throat.

Hoarse; cannot speak because the vocal cords are covered with tough mucus. Chronic cases have often been cured.

Phosphorus has this hoarseness, but especially aphonia relieved by hemming up a little mucus from the vocal cords. The Causticum hoarseness is due to a weakness of the vocal cords. Phosphorus has an inflammatory state and the continual accumulation of mucus impedes speech. Rumex has the accumulation of tough, gelatinous, gluey mucus, and he continually scrapes the larynx.

"Sensation of a lump in the throat, not relieved by hawking or swallowing, it descends on deglutition, but immediately returns"; this is also a strong feature in Lachesis.

"Aching in the pharynx, with collection of tough mucus in the fauces."

"Catarrhal affections of throat and fauces."

This remedy shows the various stages of severe cold, but is especially indicated in constitutions that are constantly taking cold worse from change of the weather; always shivering about the fire want much clothing, want even the head covered up.

Many complaints are worse in the evening, from a bath, from becoming cold, from inhaling cold air. Rheumatic complaints are common and are aggravated by cold. Every cold seems to affect the joints. This is a marked feature of Calcarea phos .; every change to cold is felt in the joints; from bathing and getting chilled afterwards.

"Tight, suffocative, heavy ache in epigastrium, through to back clothes seem too tight; weak feeling in epigastrium, all aggravated when talking; frequently takes a long breath."

"Shooting from pit of stomach to chest; sharp pain in left chest; slight nausea; dull aching in forehead."

"Aching and shooting in pit of stomach and above it on each side of sternum."

Stomach

The stomach will not digest food, or only the, simplest food; the mucous membrane of the stomach is affected by this remedy like other mucous membranes.

Various pains in the stomach; aching, shooting pains in the pit of the stomach.

"Aching pain in the pit of stomach gradually becoming very severe; sharp stitching pains in stomach extending into chest, and below a sensation of pressure like a lump in pit of stomach, sometimes rising up under sternum, greatly aggravated from motion and somewhat from taking a long breath; generally aggravated after eating, ameliorated by lying perfectly quiet."

It is strange how the stomach symptoms are aggravated by talking.

The stomach feels sore, aggravated by talking, walking, inhaling cold air; wants warm things. Very flatulent; full of flatulent pains; pains relieved ( Carbo veg.) by belching and passing flatus. Stomach and abdominal pains aggravated by talking, irregular, breathing; must sit in a chair and breathe with perfect regularity. Irregular breathing will cause cough or suffocation.

In the morning hurried to stool like Sulphur.

"Stools, painless, offensive, profuse; brown or black, thin or watery; preceded by pain in abdomen; before stool sudden urging, driving him out of bed in morning."

"Morning diarrhea with cough from tickling in throat pit."

It is common for phthisical cases to have a morning diarrhoea, and many of them look like Sulphur. When the morning diarrhea is gushing, Rumex will palliate; it will allay the extreme sensibility of the lungs, will ward off the sensitiveness to cold and will patch him up.

Rumex is not so deep as Sulphur, but it is an antipsoric. It is limited however, to the early stages; will carry a chronic case so, far, but it will require to be followed by another antipsoric. Calcarea follows it well.

Rumex is as sensitive to cold, to baths and chilly surroundings as Rhus, but it is aggravated by motion. Bryonia may be confused with it in this aggravation from motion and from talking, but Bryonia is not so sensitive to cold air, is often relieved from cold air and worse in a warm room; the complaints subside if the room becomes cool. In Rumex the nerves are sensitive to the open air; a nervous sensitiveness to open air as marked as Nux.

"Brown, watery diarrhoea, chiefly in morning, having stools from 5 to 9 A.M."

"Serious attack of diarrhea in an old man of seventy, after failure of Sulphur ".

The Sulphur patient with a cough, especially in phthisis, commonly wants cool air, cooling things; though the stomach symptoms are sometimes ameliorated from hot drinks, yet he wants cool, refreshing air.

"Aphonia after exposure to cold."

"Tenacious mucus in throat or larynx, constant desire. to hawk."

"Tickling in throat pit causing cough."

He fights off the cough as long as he can because of the burning and rawness. In the most violent coryza there is a lack of the febrile symptoms of Bryonia, Rhus a nd Aconite. It has not the constitutional symptoms, the aching of the limbs, the general soreness, the high fever and thirst. The condition seems to have localized itself.

"Hoarse, barking cough, in attacks, every night at 11 P.M. and at 2 and 5 A.M. (children)."

"Cough, with pain behind midsternum."

"The most violent cough occurs a few moments after lying down and at night, in some cases, complete aphonia".

"In women, every fit of coughing produces the passage of a few drops of urine."

Rumex is one of the most valuable palliatives in advanced phthisis it will often carry a case through another winter. With Rumex, Pulsatilla, Senega, Arsenic and Nux vomica you can patch up the last years of a phthisical patient.

I would caution you also about the diarrhea that occurs in most cases of phthisis.

You will see Acetic acid recommended for the diarrhoea in phthisis. You had better let such conditions alone, unless they are very marked. If the diarrhea is very exhausting use some simple medicine, like this one, to slack it up. But the phthisical patient is better off with a little diarrhea, a loose morning stool. It is the same with night sweats; if he does not have them he will have something more violent.

The allopath stops the diarrhea and night sweats, and then has to feed Morphine to his patient because of the consequent sufferings. The more you undertake to relieve these outward conditions, these vents, the more harm you will do the patient, and if you go on you will have to abandon your Homoeopathy and give Morphine, which is really a crime.

You will remove the sore, bruised, aching all over the body of a consumptive by Arnica, and it will suit the cough and gagging and retching, and make him sleep.

Later Pyrogen may be needed for the aching in the bones and distressing cough. You patch him up year after year; sometimes Arsenic is the remedy, and it has to be more frequently repeated; sometimes it is Lycopodium, Pulsatilla, Pyrogen or Arnica.

These medicines help him along and they have often to be changed, but finally the break down occurs, and these medicines are no longer suitable. An awful dyspnoea gradually creeps on the patient; there is craving for air; the breathing space is becoming diminished.

Dropsy comes on in the extremities. The heart gives out; there is emaciation; the hippocratic countenance is seen; there is cold sweat, blue face, sinking. Even now we can palliate with Tarantula Cubensis. Sometimes it has to be repeated. It will relieve for days and give an euthanasia, not a stupefaction as produced by Morphia, benumbing his senses, but an actual comforting.