CHAMOMILLA [Cham]:

- M.L.Tyler.

Introduction:
MODEST little weed which flourishes about this time of the year in rick-yards among the litter of thrashings, with its acrid scent, and its white petals that bend backwards, as if putting their little hands behind them. This distinguishes it from rather like flowers. As my "herb-woman" used to say, "there are two of every kind", i.e. the "herb" of great utility, and the counterfeit weed that looks so like it, but is useless. But, as a rule, it is scent, or the want of scent, that distinguishes them easily. An excellent name for Chamomilla is Cannot bear it". "Can't bear himself." "Can't bear other people." "Can't bear pain" (Coffea, Acon.). Can't bear things: wants them, and hurls them away. Everything is simply intolerable. You look at the Chamomilla baby and often see one brilliant cheek: you touch its head, and find it warm and wet. Cham. is one of Clarke's "Nursery A.B.C. drugs"-Acon., Bell., Cham. Aconite is turmoil in circulation. Belladonna is turmoil in brain. Chamomilla is turmoil in temper.* Acon. and Cham. have many characteristic symptoms in common: but the mentality decides between them. If Cham. is a sick baby he is easily spotted. He will whine and howl and insist on being carried. The moment the tired mother or the jaded father tries to sit down, or to set him down, the music starts afresh; and the trouble is worse at night. Or, short of this, he stretches out his little hand for thing after thing, and when it is offered pushes it away in disgust. "He does not know what he wants" (says Nash), "but the doctor knows-it is Chamomilla." When a little older Cham., when sick, will order his nurse or mother out of the room. We have seen a mother crouching outside a closed door, inside which her small sick son was raving if she dared to poke her nose inside. When still older he will refuse to see the doctor. I think it is Nash who says, when you know you have to see an "ugly" patient, who will refuse to see you, or will be rude to you, send on first a dose of Cham. and find peace. Cham. is definitely uncivil. The Chamomilla pain is intolerable. One has seen a person tramping the floor in agony, after a bad tooth-extraction; when a small dose of Cham. gave almost instant and complete relief. One has seen a person with 'flu, not getting well as quickly as desired, and suddenly impatient and irritable to a degree. A dose of Cham. and the temperature promptly came down. Some time ago we published a case of asthma, with such irritability that Cham. stared the doctor in the face. It was given, and cured. Hahnemann said, "Do not give Acon. where sickness is borne with calmness and patience"; and of Cham. he wrote, "It is unsuited for persons who bear pain calmly and patiently." In acute cases where Cham. is urgently demanded by the mental state, you can pull out your watch and count the very few minutes to complete relief. The nature of the ailment matters little, it is the mentality that simply shouts for Chamomilla. Cham. has not only bad temper, but bad effects of bad temper. A Cham. woman flies into a temper, and gets a hemorrhage from the womb. Or a Cham. woman flies into a fury, and is rewarded with an attack of jaundice. One has seen these. Or a nursing mother has a fit of anger, and her milk poisons her baby. And Hahnemann says in a foot note, Mat. Med. Pura, "The sometimes dangerous illness resembling acute bilious fever, that often comes on immediately after a violent vexation causing anger, with heat of face, unquenchable thirst, taste of bile, nausea, anxiety, restlessness, etc., has such great homoeopathic analogy with the symptoms of chamomile, that chamomile cannot fail to remove the whole malady rapidly and specifically, which is done as if by a miracle by one drop of the above-mentioned juice." Cham. is one of the "out-of-proportions" drugs. Ars. has prostration out of proportion (seemingly) with the malady, and Cham. has pain out of proportion (such as pains of labour- toothache-rheumatism, etc.). A tip for Cham. is numbness with pain. (Plat., Cocculus.) Hahnemann, footnote Mat. Med. Pura, says, "The paralytic sensation of chamomile in any part is never without accompanying drawing or tearing pain, and the drawing or tearing of chamomile is almost always accompanied by paralytic or numb sensation in the part." Another thing Cham. can't stand in BED. Cham. thrusts the feet out of bed (with Sul., Puls., Med.). Is driven out of bed by pain or intense discomfort and misery. "The chamomile pains have this peculiarity as a rule, that they are most severe in the night, and then often drive the victim almost to despair, not infrequently with incessant thirst, heat, and redness of one cheek; sometimes also hot sweat in the head, even in the hair." Twice cham. has brilliantly cured trench fever, to our knowledge. In one case the officer had been ill for a year, and his fever was at 9 a.m. (the Cham. black-type hour), and the turmoil in his temper was such that he had to live away from his people, in a hotel. He only wanted to smash tables and chairs. Recently an out-patient was complaining of rheumatism, she could not sleep for it, but got up and walked the room, and was frightfully irritable. She got Cham.200. On her next appearance, "Much better: feeling better than for months"; and now she confessed that she had been so frantic that she had "wanted to break something". When pain or fever wants to smash things, remember Chamomilla.
BLACK LETTER SYMPTOMS
Dullness of senses, diminished power of comprehension. Joyless obtuseness of the senses: understands nothing properly, just as if he were prevented doing so by a sort of dullness of hearing, or a waking dream. Child cries; quiet only when carried. Child does not wish to be touched. Very irritable and fretful; child must be carried. Piteous moaning of child because he cannot have what he wants. Whining restlessness; the child wants this and that, which, when offered, is refused or pushed away. Averse to talking, short and snappish. Cannot endure being spoken to, or interrupted while speaking, especially after rising from sleep. Patient cannot bear anyone near him, and answers snappishly. Peevish disposition, nothing pleases. Peevishness; she seeks a cause for being peevish at everything; can't return a civil answer. Irritable, impatient mood. Howling on account of a slight, even imaginary insult, which occurred long ago (Staph.). Easily chagrined or excited to anger. Extreme restlessness, anxious, agonized tossing about, with tearing pains in abdomen. The pains sometimes made him very peevish. Oversensitiveness to pain, which seems unbearable and drives to despair. Throbbing HEADACHE. Semi-lateral drawing headache. Transient attacks of throbbing in one-half of brain. Congestion to head; following anger; with pressure while lying down; on vertex; with heat in face and oppression of chest; with stitches in head and chest. (Pain head) increased as soon as attention was directed to it. Warm sweat on head, wetting hair. EYES swollen in morning; agglutinated with purulent mucus. Violent pressure in orbital region, sensation in eyeball, as if it was tightly compressed from all sides, with momentary obstruction of vision. Roaring in EARS, as from rushing water. Single large stitches in ear, especially when stooping, with ill humour and peevishness about trifles. Pressing earache in spells, with tearing pain, extorting cries. Particularly sensitive to open air about ears. Heat in FACE after eating (and sweat). Redness of one CHEEK, returning in paroxysms, without shivering or external heat. Hemicrania. Red face, or redness and heat of one.(l) cheek, the other being pale. One cheek red and hot, then other pale and cold. Lower lip parts in the middle in a crack (Nat-m., Sep., Graph.). Face sweats after eating or drinking. On and under tongue vesicles with shooting pains. Toothache if anything warm is taken into MOUTH; after coffee, (<) by talking; in open air, in room; getting warm in bed; during menstruation and pregnancy; most l. side and lower teeth; (<)at night. Toothache recommences when entering the warm room, or drinking anything warm. (Toothache) seems intolerable and makes him very peevish. Teeth feel too long. Gums red and tender. Dentition. Teething children; with watery, greenish, and also chopped diarrhoea, smelling like rotten eggs; jerking of limbs, or starting convulsions, child bends double and draws legs upon abdomen: moaning, wanting to be carried: dry cough, restless at night; wants to drink; quick rattling breathing. Bitter taste in mouth, in morning. Heat in mouth, pharynx and oesophagus, to stomach. Collection of saliva, of metallic, sweetish taste. Fetid smell from mouth. Spasmodic constriction of pharynx. Sore THROAT, with swelling of parotid or submaxillary glands, or tonsils. Want of APPETITE. Great thirst for cold water and desire for acid drinks. Likes to hold cold water in mouth for a long time, when drinking, Dentition. After eating and drinking, heat and sweat of face. Thirsty and hot with the pains. Fruitless efforts to vomit. The pains present are aggravated by eructation. Pressure in STOMACH, as from a stone pressing down. Constrictive gastralgia in coffee drinkers. Colic returns from time to time, flatus accumulates in hypochondria and stitches shoot through chest. Gurgling in side extending into ABDOMEN. After a meal abdomen becomes distended. Wind colic, abdomen distended like a drum, wind passes in small quantities without relief: (>) by applying warm cloths. Children have spasms in consequence of nursing milk vitiated by a fit of anger. Abdomen tympanitic and sensitive to touch. A white slimy DIARRHOEA with bellyache. Green, watery, corroding, with colic, thirst, better taste, and bitter eructations; like chopped or stirred eggs, smelling sour; hot, smelling like rotten eggs; changeable, containing undigested food; mucous and bloody. A forcing towards inguinal ring, as if that part too weak, and a hernia would come or constipation from inactivity of rectum. Ulcerating fissures at anus. MENSTRUAL colic, following anger. Membranous dysmenorrhoea. Profuse discharge of clotted blood, with severe labour-like pains. Drawing from sacral region forward, griping and pinching in uterus, followed by discharge of large clots of blood. Yellow, smarting leucorrhoea. Labour pains press upwards; she is hot and thirsty, cross and inclined to scold. Rigidity of os; scarcely able to endure the pains. After-pains, very acute and distressing. Puerperal convulsions after anger; or has one red cheek, the other being pale. Rash of lying-in women and nursing infants, caused by heat or errors in diet, with watery, greenish, chopped egg diarrhoea, corroding anus. Mammae hard and tender to touch, with drawing pains, is fretful, sleepless and cross. Suffocative tightness CHEST, larynx constricted with constant irritation to cough. Almost uninterrupted tickling irritation to cough under upper part sternum: does not always result in coughing. Tickling in pit of THROAT, causing dry, scraping cough. Voice hoarse. Sensation of rawness and scraping in larynx. Hoarseness from viscid mucus in larynx only brought away by violent hawking. Suffocative attacks from repercussion of measles eruption, by taking cold. Needle-like pricks in CHEST; or single severe stitches. Asthma after a fit of anger. Scraping, dry cough, caused by tickling in pit of throat, (<) at night, even in sleep, especially with children after taking cold in winter. Drawing pain in BACK; pain sacrum especially at nights. ARMS immediately go to sleep, if she grasps anything firmly; she is obliged to let them sink down. Cracking in joints, especially lower limbs: pains as if bruised. Cramp in legs and calves. Burning of soles, at night; puts feet out of bed. Violent rheumatic pains drive him out of bed at night, and compel him to walk about. SLEEPLESS and restless at night. Child gets relief from being carried. Oversensitiveness after abuse of coffee or opium. Child suddenly stiffens body and bends backwards, kicks when carried, screams immoderately and throws everything off. Dentition. Tremulous starting up; twitches of limbs and eyelids. Single twitches of limbs and of head during morning nap. Moaning in sleep. Weeping and howling in sleep. Starts up, cries out. Tosses and talks in sleep. Sleepy, but cannot sleep. Pains are aggravated by heat, which relieves abdominal colic. CHILL and coldness of whole body, with burning heat of face and hot breath. Feeling of external heat, without actual external heat. Internal heat with shivering. Heat and shivering intermingled, mostly with one red and one pale cheek. In evening, burning cheeks with transient rigor. Burning heat face which comes out of eyes like fire. Long-lasting HEAT, with violent thirst and frequent starting in sleep. Hot and thirsty with the pains. Fever. Profuse SWEAT of covered parts. (THUJA of uncovered parts.) Sweat during sleep, most on head, usually sour smelling. Sweat, with smarting sensation in skin. Oversensitiveness of senses, especially if produced by coffee, or narcotics. Paralytic sensations are always accompanied by drawing or tearing pain, and drawing or tearing pains rarely occur without paralytic or numb sensation in the part. Especially helps children newborn and during period of dentition. Adults, even aged persons with arthritic or rheumatic diathesis. DR. BOERICKE characterizes Chamomilla thus- Chamomilla is sensitive; irritable, thirsty, hot and numb. A disposition that is mild, calm and gentle contra-indicates Chamomilla. One would like to add the following, which comes from America, to CHAMOMILLA, our "Drug Picture". In the discussion on an interesting paper on Chamomilla, the following delightful and illuminating sidelights flashed out- DR. FARRINGTON: Many years ago I read a story about Wesselhoeft and Lippe, and when those old boys got together, they had some very good talks on materia medica, and it was too bad that they couldn't have been recorded or that we couldn't have listened in. Occasionally they vied with one another and tried to see who used it most. Old Wesselhoeft thought he has Lippe at a disadvantage He said, "Dr. Lippe, I had a woman patient who got this peculiar symptom: she felt as though she were walking around on the ends of the bones of her legs.* and didn't have any feet, as though the feet were gone. What remedy did I give her?" Lippe said, "You gave her de Chamomilla, by Gott." Well, about a year ago I went to see a woman of eighty, who complained about her feet, that they hurt her, and her corns "always twinging in the damp weather", and she said, "The funny thing is that I feel as though I were walking on the ends of the bones of my legs." I gave her Chamomilla and it not only removed that sensation, which possibly someone might say is imagination, but it cured her corns. DR. GRIMMER: I want to relate a case of strychnine poisoning. Shortly after I graduated, I was called in the early hours of the morning to a young lady in the throes of strychnine convulsions. I had no antidotes and couldn't get any because the drug-stores were locked up. I didn't even have a stomach pump and wouldn't have done any good with it if I had, because she had got this by taking strychnine given to her, I think, in 1/12 grains. She had been given a vial and the doctor told her to take two or three for headache, but she kept taking them until she got a big dose. Her teeth were clenched and her head was drawn back and she was pale, not flushed. I started to ask a few questions and she said through her teeth, "Why don't you do something? I can't bear this any longer. Do something!" Well, I had Chamomilla in the thousandth potency, so I put a powder of Chamomilla on her tongue; and I want to tell you no chemical antidote would bring the results that that did. She soon relaxed, in about five minutes she vomited and a few minutes later she had a call to go the other way, and by morning, except for tremendous soreness from the muscular convulsions, she was all right, but she broke out with a lot of herpetic eruptions around the mouth, which Rhus tox. took care of, as well as the muscular soreness. Dr. EDWARDS: Dr. Tyrrell said once to me, "When the husband complains of the wife's cross and irritable, and he can't get along with her, give him a dose of Chamomilla," and it has worked. I have done it many times.