ASTERIA RUBENS -CASES
-GEORGE VITHOULKAS
Cases
Tall, dark haired teacher, aged 40 years
Awakes every morning with sneezing, bland coryza
Smarting and dry, cracking sensation in larynx and trachea follows, with hoarseness.
Coughs and raises a little thick, viscid, yellowish mucus.
Correspondent gave no other symptoms
April 19, 1900. One powder Asterias rubens 45m (F.) dry on the tongue gave wonderful relief.
Proceedings of the Twenty Second Annual Session of the International Hahnemannian Association, 1901, p. 159.
I once made a cure of a hard tumor of the left breast when the nipple was retracted and the patient had just cause to fear cancer from the fact that a number of her family had died of it. I gave her Asterias rubens.
As the case improved an ordinary abscess was set up in the breast which went on to suppuration, discharged and healed.
The Homoeopathic Physician, Vol. 8, no. 1, p. 18.
Sensation of a husk in the throat.
Hawks up a cottony, white mucus from the throat
Cracking in the left knee joint whenever it is bent.
Hair dry and falling off from the crown of the head
Light-haired bookkeeper, aged 27 years.
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Session of the International Hahnemannian Association, 1899, p. 69.
M. M., a general officer, aged 74, of nervous sanguine constitution, having suffered the hardships of war, particularly in the campaign in Egypt, experienced sudden and acute attacks of vertigo, like shocks in the head, which was sometimes burning; face red, pulse hard, compressed, frequent; appetite as usual; obstinate constipation, from twelve to fifteen days elapsing without an evacuation, which consisted, when it occured, of very hard, round substances about the size of an olive.
During the day he was annoyed by permanent contractions of the muscles of the lower extremities; during the night great agitation and little sleep. His gait was unsteady, the contraction of the muscle seemed difficult and to resist the efforts of the will. Under the influence of this state of the brain, and still more of that of the abdomen, he gradually lost his sight; by the excessive contractility of the irides, the pupils were completely closed.
The patient had become very impatient; a drop of asterias 12, taken in six days, put an end to the sanguineous congestion of the brain, the relief of which rendered the stools more easy and regular; they now came on every two days; the cramp-like contraction in the lower extremities almost entirely ceased; the sleep became longer and more quiet; the moral state became more docile; the eyes remained as before. His general health has remained improved for more than a year.
A woman of Franconville-la-Garonne, 48 years old, of a flabby, lymphatic constitution, had had for several years a scrofulous ulcer on the left side of the neck, extending from the borders of the hair to the clavicle, measuring at least five centimetres broad. The edges of the ulcer and some portions of skin which yet remained in its centre, were hard and elevated for some distance from the sore. Her skin was destitute of pliability and inelastic. She had a family of seven children, was exposed to much fatigue, badly fed, and had received no medical advice when she applied to me. I was enabled to produce some amendment in her general state by the employment of our ordinary remedies, but was still far enough off from a cure, when I remembered a symptom produced by asterias, to which I shall presently refer, and concluded to try its powers against this enormous ulcer. She took a dose of half a drop of the 12th dilution every eight days for five months, and was completely cured; nor has she for two years experienced any return of the troubles that formerly caused her so much suffering, especially in cold and wet weather.
"Symp. 106. Drawing pain towards the internal part of the chest from before backwards, extending under the left nipple into the whole internal part of the arm to the extremity of the little finger.
"107. The whole left side of the chest is painful. Motion aggravates the pain.
"116" Feeling as if the left breast were drawn inward"
The foregoing case and symptoms cited at the end of it, led me to the following experiment:-
A countrywoman, of the valley of Montmorency, fifty-six years old, of a dry constitution, like most of those women who labour in the fields, had in her right bosom a scirrhous tumour adhering by its entire base to the thoracic walls. Belladonna, carbo-animalis, conium-maculatum, silicea, were tried with little or no result, and she ceased treatment from despair. Some seven or eight months afterwards, however, she returned, saying that a livid red spot had made its appearance upon one point of the tumor, which had broken and given exit to a discharge of blood for several days. This was the commencement of the cancerous ulcer which, when I saw her again, had invaded the whole breast. It was then nearly twenty centimetres in circumference, and discharged a very fetid ichor; the edges were pale, elevated, mammillary, hard and everted; the bottom was covered with reddish granulations. She was annoyed, especially at night, by lancinating or acute smarting pains, which entirely deprived her of rest; her appetite was entirely gone; bowels constipated; skin dry, harsh and earthy in appearance; the axillary glands were swollen, hard and knobbed; the sternal integument was swollen and painful; the right breast was beginning to manifest symptoms of scirrhus; her emaciation was extreme, and, in short, all the characteristics of the cancerous diathesis indicated a speedy termination in death.
I prescribed asterias 15, a drop to be taken in eight days, which was followed by a diminution of the nocturnal pains, so that she was able to get a little sleep; she took also a little food. A second dose, administered six days after she had finished the first, continued the amendment; the skin lost some of its dryness, the face returned to its natural tint, and her strength was somewat recruited. A remarkable alteration became manifest in the ulcer after the third dose; the edges became less sensitive, the discharge less fetid, and took on a little more consistence, like that of ordinary pus. At the end of two months the bottom of the ulcer showed healthy granulations, and at the expiration of three, cicatrization was complete over four-fifths of its extent.
This was all I was able to do with the asterias, the power of which seems to have been exhausted in producing this result; I know not whether any one has, thus far, succeeded in doing any better. This was a case in which the cancerous diathesis displayed itself in all its malignity; knotted cords could be perceived leading from the right breast, which was also scirrhous to the spinal column, a symptom due to the absorption of the ichorous discharge of the fungus by the neighbouring lymphatics.
- A lady, of strong constitution, about sixty years old, had had an induration of the left mamma, for a time, the length of which she could not state. It was there when she first became a mother, and seemed entirely unaffected by several pregnancies and nursings.
When I examined it, I found it about the size of the head of a new-born child, almost insensible, very hard and angular; around the nipple, which was sunk into a cavity, the skin was smooth and adherent, and upon one point of this surface appeared a violet spot, whcih indicated the commencement of Hay's fungus haematodes, one of the most distinctive signs of the passage of scirrhus into cancerous degeneration.
Her general health was good; at distant intervals, however, she experienced lancinating pains in the tumour. She took asterias 18, a drop in eight days, and the dose was renewed at the expiration of similar periods for several months. The gland had then lost two-thirds of its volume, but the varicose spot showed some grayish points, had become more decided in colour, more extended in surface, had broken, and from time to time discharged some blood. The excoriation did not, however, resemble the usual fungus haematodes, as the bottom was smooth and formed of a tissue of varicose capillaries, while she felt no pain in it, and had no longer any general symptoms. The usual sequel of a bloody discharge, the secretion of an ichorous fetid fluid, did not take place, and this circumstance, in connection with the great diminution of the tumour, leads me to hope there will be no relapse.
A lady of a nervous sanguineous temperament, aged 48, had suffered more or less during her whole menstrual life. A long time ago she had had an engorgement of the cervix uteri, which, though finally cured, had caused fears of its ending in a malignant disease; from that time she had never been perfectly well. A year since, a swelling came on in the right breast, involving the whole mammary gland; it was hard, unsymmetrical, and was attached to the nipple, which was buried in the tumour. She experienced lancinating pains in it, shooting as far as the spine, at about the position of the fourth dorsal vertebra, the region of which was so painful that the slightest pressure was intolerable. In the track of this pain, a hard and knotty cord soon formed and rendered the whole space between the breast and the spinal column equally sensitive. On the external side of the tumour, which increased daily in size, a fungus haematodes formed as in the previous cases, and soon formed a projection of about two centimetres. It soon opened, giving vent to a copious haemorrhage, followed some days afterwards by a fetid ichor. The engorgement extended to the axillary glands; the disease rapidly advanced, and asterias was employed, but without effect. We may, perhaps, get a glimpse of the reason of this inertness, if we remember that in the pathogenesis of asterias, the action of the remedy seems to be concentrated upon the left side of the body, and that in the two cases of which I have given a rapid review, and in which it was employed with such decided results, the affection was also upon the left side, while in the present case it was wholly on the right.
Case 6. - The first ideas I had about the curative action of asterias referred to its probable influence upon epilepsy, a notion to which the celebrated Cotugno had lent some credit. But the seat and the causes of this disease are so varied, while its phenomena remain nearly the same, that it will, probably, long remain one of those which will be treated by the practitioner without result.
A young girl of 22, of a delicate, lymphatic and very irritable temperament, complained, when twelve years old, of headache. It was a violent pressure upon the anterior lobes of the brain, extending even beneath the eyes, and one day became so severe that the patient, when seated at table, fell forward and remained for some minutes unconscious; her face was pale and her jaws set. Such was her first attack, after which she experienced great debility, with a sense of distress in the epigastrium. Similar attacks, but of greater length, recurred at longer or shorter intervals, generally from ten to twenty days; there were occasionally convulsive motions of the limbs; the paroxysms occurred at the commencement of the last meal of the day, were easily excited by any emotion, especially by contradiction and almost always took place after three o'clock in the afternoon.
No treatment was instituted, under the impression that the establishment of puberty, which was probably at hand, would put an end to the disease, but the menses appeared and brought no change; she continued weak and pale. She now received sulphur, belladonna, calcarea, conium, hyoscyamus, etc, with the effect of alleviating the paroxysms, lengthening the intervals and ameliorating her general condition, notwithstanding the continuance of the attacks. In the early part of August 1850, a dose of asterias 24 was given for five or six days, and from that time she has had no paroxysms [Jan. 1851], her face has lost its pallor, her form is fuller, and the state of her mental faculties is such as accords with good health.
Article XXXVIII. - Clinical Observations on the Employment of the Asterias rubens. By Dr. Petroz, Paris
The North American Homoeopathic Journal, Vol. 2. pp. 431 to 438
Cases
Tall, dark haired teacher, aged 40 years
Awakes every morning with sneezing, bland coryza
Smarting and dry, cracking sensation in larynx and trachea follows, with hoarseness.
Coughs and raises a little thick, viscid, yellowish mucus.
Correspondent gave no other symptoms
April 19, 1900. One powder Asterias rubens 45m (F.) dry on the tongue gave wonderful relief.
Proceedings of the Twenty Second Annual Session of the International Hahnemannian Association, 1901, p. 159.
I once made a cure of a hard tumor of the left breast when the nipple was retracted and the patient had just cause to fear cancer from the fact that a number of her family had died of it. I gave her Asterias rubens.
As the case improved an ordinary abscess was set up in the breast which went on to suppuration, discharged and healed.
The Homoeopathic Physician, Vol. 8, no. 1, p. 18.
Sensation of a husk in the throat.
Hawks up a cottony, white mucus from the throat
Cracking in the left knee joint whenever it is bent.
Hair dry and falling off from the crown of the head
Light-haired bookkeeper, aged 27 years.
Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Session of the International Hahnemannian Association, 1899, p. 69.
M. M., a general officer, aged 74, of nervous sanguine constitution, having suffered the hardships of war, particularly in the campaign in Egypt, experienced sudden and acute attacks of vertigo, like shocks in the head, which was sometimes burning; face red, pulse hard, compressed, frequent; appetite as usual; obstinate constipation, from twelve to fifteen days elapsing without an evacuation, which consisted, when it occured, of very hard, round substances about the size of an olive.
During the day he was annoyed by permanent contractions of the muscles of the lower extremities; during the night great agitation and little sleep. His gait was unsteady, the contraction of the muscle seemed difficult and to resist the efforts of the will. Under the influence of this state of the brain, and still more of that of the abdomen, he gradually lost his sight; by the excessive contractility of the irides, the pupils were completely closed.
The patient had become very impatient; a drop of asterias 12, taken in six days, put an end to the sanguineous congestion of the brain, the relief of which rendered the stools more easy and regular; they now came on every two days; the cramp-like contraction in the lower extremities almost entirely ceased; the sleep became longer and more quiet; the moral state became more docile; the eyes remained as before. His general health has remained improved for more than a year.
A woman of Franconville-la-Garonne, 48 years old, of a flabby, lymphatic constitution, had had for several years a scrofulous ulcer on the left side of the neck, extending from the borders of the hair to the clavicle, measuring at least five centimetres broad. The edges of the ulcer and some portions of skin which yet remained in its centre, were hard and elevated for some distance from the sore. Her skin was destitute of pliability and inelastic. She had a family of seven children, was exposed to much fatigue, badly fed, and had received no medical advice when she applied to me. I was enabled to produce some amendment in her general state by the employment of our ordinary remedies, but was still far enough off from a cure, when I remembered a symptom produced by asterias, to which I shall presently refer, and concluded to try its powers against this enormous ulcer. She took a dose of half a drop of the 12th dilution every eight days for five months, and was completely cured; nor has she for two years experienced any return of the troubles that formerly caused her so much suffering, especially in cold and wet weather.
"Symp. 106. Drawing pain towards the internal part of the chest from before backwards, extending under the left nipple into the whole internal part of the arm to the extremity of the little finger.
"107. The whole left side of the chest is painful. Motion aggravates the pain.
"116" Feeling as if the left breast were drawn inward"
The foregoing case and symptoms cited at the end of it, led me to the following experiment:-
A countrywoman, of the valley of Montmorency, fifty-six years old, of a dry constitution, like most of those women who labour in the fields, had in her right bosom a scirrhous tumour adhering by its entire base to the thoracic walls. Belladonna, carbo-animalis, conium-maculatum, silicea, were tried with little or no result, and she ceased treatment from despair. Some seven or eight months afterwards, however, she returned, saying that a livid red spot had made its appearance upon one point of the tumor, which had broken and given exit to a discharge of blood for several days. This was the commencement of the cancerous ulcer which, when I saw her again, had invaded the whole breast. It was then nearly twenty centimetres in circumference, and discharged a very fetid ichor; the edges were pale, elevated, mammillary, hard and everted; the bottom was covered with reddish granulations. She was annoyed, especially at night, by lancinating or acute smarting pains, which entirely deprived her of rest; her appetite was entirely gone; bowels constipated; skin dry, harsh and earthy in appearance; the axillary glands were swollen, hard and knobbed; the sternal integument was swollen and painful; the right breast was beginning to manifest symptoms of scirrhus; her emaciation was extreme, and, in short, all the characteristics of the cancerous diathesis indicated a speedy termination in death.
I prescribed asterias 15, a drop to be taken in eight days, which was followed by a diminution of the nocturnal pains, so that she was able to get a little sleep; she took also a little food. A second dose, administered six days after she had finished the first, continued the amendment; the skin lost some of its dryness, the face returned to its natural tint, and her strength was somewat recruited. A remarkable alteration became manifest in the ulcer after the third dose; the edges became less sensitive, the discharge less fetid, and took on a little more consistence, like that of ordinary pus. At the end of two months the bottom of the ulcer showed healthy granulations, and at the expiration of three, cicatrization was complete over four-fifths of its extent.
This was all I was able to do with the asterias, the power of which seems to have been exhausted in producing this result; I know not whether any one has, thus far, succeeded in doing any better. This was a case in which the cancerous diathesis displayed itself in all its malignity; knotted cords could be perceived leading from the right breast, which was also scirrhous to the spinal column, a symptom due to the absorption of the ichorous discharge of the fungus by the neighbouring lymphatics.
- A lady, of strong constitution, about sixty years old, had had an induration of the left mamma, for a time, the length of which she could not state. It was there when she first became a mother, and seemed entirely unaffected by several pregnancies and nursings.
When I examined it, I found it about the size of the head of a new-born child, almost insensible, very hard and angular; around the nipple, which was sunk into a cavity, the skin was smooth and adherent, and upon one point of this surface appeared a violet spot, whcih indicated the commencement of Hay's fungus haematodes, one of the most distinctive signs of the passage of scirrhus into cancerous degeneration.
Her general health was good; at distant intervals, however, she experienced lancinating pains in the tumour. She took asterias 18, a drop in eight days, and the dose was renewed at the expiration of similar periods for several months. The gland had then lost two-thirds of its volume, but the varicose spot showed some grayish points, had become more decided in colour, more extended in surface, had broken, and from time to time discharged some blood. The excoriation did not, however, resemble the usual fungus haematodes, as the bottom was smooth and formed of a tissue of varicose capillaries, while she felt no pain in it, and had no longer any general symptoms. The usual sequel of a bloody discharge, the secretion of an ichorous fetid fluid, did not take place, and this circumstance, in connection with the great diminution of the tumour, leads me to hope there will be no relapse.
A lady of a nervous sanguineous temperament, aged 48, had suffered more or less during her whole menstrual life. A long time ago she had had an engorgement of the cervix uteri, which, though finally cured, had caused fears of its ending in a malignant disease; from that time she had never been perfectly well. A year since, a swelling came on in the right breast, involving the whole mammary gland; it was hard, unsymmetrical, and was attached to the nipple, which was buried in the tumour. She experienced lancinating pains in it, shooting as far as the spine, at about the position of the fourth dorsal vertebra, the region of which was so painful that the slightest pressure was intolerable. In the track of this pain, a hard and knotty cord soon formed and rendered the whole space between the breast and the spinal column equally sensitive. On the external side of the tumour, which increased daily in size, a fungus haematodes formed as in the previous cases, and soon formed a projection of about two centimetres. It soon opened, giving vent to a copious haemorrhage, followed some days afterwards by a fetid ichor. The engorgement extended to the axillary glands; the disease rapidly advanced, and asterias was employed, but without effect. We may, perhaps, get a glimpse of the reason of this inertness, if we remember that in the pathogenesis of asterias, the action of the remedy seems to be concentrated upon the left side of the body, and that in the two cases of which I have given a rapid review, and in which it was employed with such decided results, the affection was also upon the left side, while in the present case it was wholly on the right.
Case 6. - The first ideas I had about the curative action of asterias referred to its probable influence upon epilepsy, a notion to which the celebrated Cotugno had lent some credit. But the seat and the causes of this disease are so varied, while its phenomena remain nearly the same, that it will, probably, long remain one of those which will be treated by the practitioner without result.
A young girl of 22, of a delicate, lymphatic and very irritable temperament, complained, when twelve years old, of headache. It was a violent pressure upon the anterior lobes of the brain, extending even beneath the eyes, and one day became so severe that the patient, when seated at table, fell forward and remained for some minutes unconscious; her face was pale and her jaws set. Such was her first attack, after which she experienced great debility, with a sense of distress in the epigastrium. Similar attacks, but of greater length, recurred at longer or shorter intervals, generally from ten to twenty days; there were occasionally convulsive motions of the limbs; the paroxysms occurred at the commencement of the last meal of the day, were easily excited by any emotion, especially by contradiction and almost always took place after three o'clock in the afternoon.
No treatment was instituted, under the impression that the establishment of puberty, which was probably at hand, would put an end to the disease, but the menses appeared and brought no change; she continued weak and pale. She now received sulphur, belladonna, calcarea, conium, hyoscyamus, etc, with the effect of alleviating the paroxysms, lengthening the intervals and ameliorating her general condition, notwithstanding the continuance of the attacks. In the early part of August 1850, a dose of asterias 24 was given for five or six days, and from that time she has had no paroxysms [Jan. 1851], her face has lost its pallor, her form is fuller, and the state of her mental faculties is such as accords with good health.
Article XXXVIII. - Clinical Observations on the Employment of the Asterias rubens. By Dr. Petroz, Paris
The North American Homoeopathic Journal, Vol. 2. pp. 431 to 438
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