HOMEOPATHIC RESEARCH

- BORLAND Douglas M. There is another group of conditions of the same type, the post-herpetic neuralgias, which are sometimes very troublesome. You know the ordinary shingles neuralgia where the patient comes with acute burning pain along the course of the intercostal nerve and gives a history that he has had a small crop of shingles, very often so light that he paid little or no attention to it. Well, if you can get the same modalities as you got in the facial neuralgias under Mag. Phos., that remedy will often relieve. Much more commonly you find that these post-herpetic cases respond to Ranunculus. The particular features for this drug are the history of herpes, the very sharp shooting pains extending along the course of the intercostal nerve, that the painful area is very sensitive to touch, that the pain is induced or aggravated by it, and you may get the statement that the patient is extremely conscious of any weather change because it will cause a return of the neuralgia...

- BORLAND Douglas M. Then you get another type of neuralgia - the sciaticas. And there again you can get helpful leads. In cases of sciatica, in which I can get no indications at all but the ordinary classical symptoms of sciatica, that is to say, acute pain down the sciatic nerve, which is aggravated by any movement, is very sensitive to cold, more comfortable if kept quiet and warm, then it depends which leg is involved what drug I give. If it is a right sided sciatica I give Mag. Phos., but if it is a left sided I give Colocynth. And you would be astonished how often one gets almost immediate relief from either Mag. Phos. or Colocynth.  Some sciatica patients are frightfully uncomfortable the longer they keep still, they have got to start moving, and there are two drugs which seem to cover the majority of these cases. If the patient is warm-blooded, and the sciatic pains tend to be more troublesome when warm, particularly warmth of bed, and rather better when moving about, ...

- Benson.A.R, According to M. Jousset the regimen should be especially directed to combating the special etiology circumstances. Besides the use of cold injections or the introduction of a roll of charpie into the rectum, the diet should consist of bran bread and a soup made of maize, lentils or beans. The use of unground flaxseed or mustard grains have also a favorable action. Certain natural sulphur waters, principally those which contain chloride of soda (St. Gervais and Uriage), the waters containing free sodic chlorides (Niederbrunn, Friedrichshall) give the happiest results in the treatment of constipation.  We are surprised that M. Jousset does not mention the Sedlitz, Pullna, and Hunyadi-Janos waters, whose favorable action experience has daily demonstrated. The Pullna water especially, constitutes according to Constantine James, "one of the most pleasant and sure medications which therapeutics possesses".  Ruddock insists upon regularity in the time of eati...

-  BERNARD H, Jahr gives : Whitish-gray excrements. Constipation from atony. Collection of faecal material on account of the constipation. Insufficient bilious secretions. Stool firm, insufficient, soon after a meal, aggravated from standing. Hunger during stool.  Espanet : This medicine is suitable for melancholic venous temperaments, with a constitution used up from table excesses. It corresponds principally to the female sex, or to men in middle life or old age.  [Lilienthal : Constipation of aged people, with abdominal plethora; suitable to hypochondriasis, and to persons leading a sedentary life, with a pituitous state of the stomach and bowels; heat, soreness and heaviness of the rectum; urgency as with diarrhoea; only hot flatus passes with sensation as if a plug was wedged between the symphysis pubis and coccyx.] 

- BERNARD H, The Cinchonine, as we know, is an alkaloid which is found in many species of Cinchona, especially the gray.  The use of this substance in the treatment of constipation is mentioned by Dr. R. Noack, of Lyon. In his homoeopathic guide he divides habitual constipation into five classes :  1. Constipation from inertia of the intestine;  2. Constipation from alteration of the intestinal mucus;  3. Constipation from contraction of the muscular fibres;  4. Constipation from irritation or congestion of the intestine;  5. Haemorrhoidal constipation.  The most frequent of all, according to him, consists in a sort of inertia or inactivity of the muscular fibres of the intestines, which become distended and necessitate painful efforts in order to produce the expulsion of the faecal matters. These sometimes present an enormous mass, indicative of dilatation of the large intestine; hence, the application of a special remedy, the Cinchoni...

- BERNARD H,  In this pathogenetic résumé of Cocculus, Jahr notes : Constipation with tenesmus; stool hard, difficult. In his Repertory, he classes Cocculus among the first of the remedies indicated for constipation in general, imitating in this respect the example of Boenninghausen, who, besides, italicizes the following symptom : Ineffectual urging at stool from insufficiency of the peristaltic movement of the upper intestines.  We give also some of the phenomena noted by Hahnemann; Tingling and itching in the rectum similar to that produced by ascarides. Constrictive pain in the anus, worse in the afternoon, which prevents sitting. Burning itching in the anus. 

- BERNARD H,  Stools   Large and pale; Lumpy and light colored.  Before stool   Cutting pains in the hypogastrium with desire.  During stool   Absence of marked desire; Straining; Violent effort and dull pain.  After stool   Dull pains in the anus.  Concomitants   Pulsative or painful cephalalgia. Congestion towards the heart and head alternating with haemorrhoidal symptoms. Indigestion arising from a want of tone in the stomach with flatulency; colic and spasms of the intestines. Loss of appetite. Distention of the abdomen. Heat and itching of the anus, sensation of sand and gravel in the rectum. Venous congestions, such as varicocele, haemorrhoids, blind or bleeding, and all their metastases; varices, pruritus vulvae, amenorrhoea, metrorrhagia, prolapsus uteri.  Generalities  Collinsonia is a remedy essentially allied to the rectum. Constipation and haemorrhoids in consequence of t...

- BERNARD H, This medicine presents but few symptoms of constipation, but they are very characteristic. In the Chronic Diseases we find; Constipation with ineffectual desire for stool; hard stool which occurs only every two days. After stool, palpitation of the heart.  [In Raue, we find : Frequent urging without stool, or there is only a small quantity expelled at a time; chilliness during stool; the flow of urine suddenly stops and continues after a short intermission; dizziness when turning in bed.]  The hemlock, says Espanet, is very useful for hypochondriacs and scrofulous persons with gastric and abdominal complaints with slowness of digestion, irritative constipation or diarrhoea, asthenia and flatulency.  [Hempel and Arndt : In constipation, when arising from spasmodic rigidity of the fibre.]  Case 11   X -, age 40 years, consulted me in March, 1873. He was then suffering from an extreme state of nervous excitation and depression. He wa...

- BERNARD H, Dr. Schmidt says : I have often succeeded with Crocus in obstinate constipation, notably when it occurs in the new-born; and is based on disturbances in the vena-porta. In these cases, in the dose of a drop of the tincture, once a day, I have obtained natural stools without any inconvenient result.  We find in the Manual of Jahr, the following symptoms only (given in very nearly the same terms as Boenninghausen) : Itching and crawling sensations in the anus. Dull shootings in the side of an above the Anus. 

- BERNARD H, The only symptom which we find in Hahnemann's Materia Medica bearing upon this subject is the following : Daily stool, but it is hard and scanty.  We would not have referred to this drug, if we had not read the following curious observation.  Case 12   A child, one year of age (Calc. carb. constitution), suffered for six months, with an obstinate constipation, for which I had prescribed a number of remedies, with little or no benefit. A short time since he was attacked with a fluent, profuse coryza, with slight flow of tears and a bright red eruption upon the cheek; aggravation in the afternoon and after crying; persistent constipation; stools in large balls, which are dry, hard, voided with great difficulty and almost tearing the anal passage. Euphrasia200, four doses, thirty-six hours apart, promptly relieved this entire array of symptoms. - Dr. Hoopes. 

- BERNARD H, Stools   Hard, knotty, with discharge of mucus and blood; In lumps united by threads of mucus; Large and ball-shaped; Long and slender in shape.  Before stool   Great desire.  During stool   Hard stool, with much urging and sticking in the anus; Great straining even when the stool is not hard; Shooting pains in the anus; Discharge of white mucus.  After stool   Prolapsus recti and haemorrhoids, as if the rectum was paralyzed; stitching, tearing, and soreness in the rectum.  Concomitants   Burning heat in the stomach after eating and from the least aggravation of the general conditions, or distress after a meal (a result due to the abdominal venous plethora).  The abdomen is very much distended from the accumulation of gases. Hardness in the region of the liver. Pains in the haemorrhoidal protrusions. Fissures of the anus with sharp cutting pains during stool, followed by constricti...

- BERNARD H, Stools   Hard, scanty, tenacious, expelled with difficulty.  Before stool   Pressing and ineffectual desire; Repeated tenesmus and rumblings as if diarrhoea would come on.  During stool   Burning pain in rectum; Straining.  After stool   Burning pains in the rectum; Tenesmus; A wrenching pain in the coccyx; Creeping chills.  Generalities   This medicine, says Jahr, is still but little known and has only been employed against hypochondriacal affections, a few cases of gastralgia, and certain forms of constipation.  Teste considers it as being in some respects the Chamomilla of chronic diseases. 

- BERNARD H, Continued inclination to go to stool, but passes fetid flatus.  Pains shooting from the anus and lower part of the rectum along the perineum to the middle of the penis (in the middle of the night).  Ulceration of the rectum; fissures and prolapse of the anus.  Bloody discharge, with heat in the rectum, tenesmus and haemorrhoids.  For the constipation of aged persons, or those of very weak constitutional powers with weak heart's action, intermittent pulse, and generally relaxed muscular frame. 

-  BERNARD H,  Stools  Chestnut-shaped stools; [Hard, dry, knotty or insufficient; In some cases they may be scanty and of a greenish color, in other cases they may be accompanied by vermiform shreds of mucus, or followed by expulsion of mucus]; Fetid faecal stools.  Before stool   Rectum inactive  During stool   Urging even with soft stool.  [First part of the discharge being of a natural consistency, afterward it became papescent, and lastly thin; it is accompanied by a shuddering sensation through the body from above downward, and by a drawing from the small of the back through the thighs. Symptom experienced by a person habitually costive.]  After stool   Desire still persists.  Concomitants   Heat in the head. Sickly face. Malaise. Colic, fullness and swelling of the abdomen.  Case 53   A young ecclesiastic was subject to a constipation which appeared on every Monday ...

- BERNARD H, M. Teste gives us the following under this drug : Stools frequent enough, but dry and insufficient; frequent desire for stool, with constipation as from inertia of the rectum; slight diarrhoea alternating with constipation; excoriating pain in the anus.  Boenninghausen and Jahr place this drug among the chief remedies for constipation.  Hering recommends it when Mercurius has been insufficient for constipation accompanied with bad taste in the mouth, pain in the gums, irregular appetite. 

- BERNARD H, Among the mineral waters which have been studied and administered homoeopathically according to the comparison of the known physiological effects with tried similar therapeutic effects, we will mention three, those of Teplitz, Lippspringe and Carlsbad.  The following pathogenetic symptoms are attributed to the Teplitz water by Dr. Perutz; Constipation with pain in the kidneys and a sensation of weight in the extremities. Frequent desire for stool, but without result. Constipation for several days, accompanied with nausea. Hard stool with an escape of bright, red blood.  Dr. Bolle notes the following physiological effects as belonging to the mineral waters of Lippspringe : Constipation. Burning at the anus. No strength to force an evacuation. Vain desire for stool with pains as though diarrhoea was present. The water is recommended by Dr. Bolle for old and stubborn cases of constipation, especially in hypochondriac or plethoric subjects.  Carlsbad ...

- BERNARD H, Various classifications have been made by different authors on the subject of constipation. We find in the Compendium the following :  1. Constipation resulting from the presence of foreign bodies obstructing the intestinal canal.  2. Constipation from structural lesions of the intestine, which may either diminish the calibre or furnish a cavity for the collection of the faecal matters.  3. Constipation from compression, strangulation or invagination of the intestine.  4. Constipation from absence of a faecal residue.  5. Constipation resulting from excessive contractility of certain portions of the intestinal tube.  6. Constipation from inertia of the intestinal membranes.  7. Constipation from alteration of the products of exhalation and secretion which are thrown upon the surface of the intestinal tube.  M. Villemin divides this condition into five divisions.  1. Constipation from anaesthesia of the rectal mu...

- BERNARD H, Many authors absolutely deny the existence of this form of constipation. Although admitting the difficulty of establishing ex cathedra the clinical reality of this division, yet we believe it can be admitted by analogy. However that may be, we range in this category the cases, numerous enough, of constipation, the pathogenetic origin of which is either not appreciable, or is obscure, and which cannot be better classified in the other sections.  Two important remedies dispute here the pre-eminence : Nux vomica and Hydrastis canadensis. It is difficult to draw the differential indications of these two substances. We believe, however, that Nux vomica ought to be employed in those subjects who are still vigorous, while that Hydrastis suits rather those persons who are debilitated and enfeebled, with a sickly appearance, or when there are active, persistent pains in the whole extent of the intestinal tract and at the same time fainting after each evacuation. It se...

- BERNARD H, This form of constipation is often the consequence of sub-acute or chronic inflammatory diseases of the intestines. It sometimes follows typhoid fever, catarrhal and rheumatic fevers. The abuse of purgatives, too much animal food, the abuse of alcohol and spices seem to singularly favor its evolution.  The best treatment for this form is Bryonia and Nux vomica alternated, together with an intercurrent dose of Sulphur, Bryonia is especially useful in summer, in acute cases, during an attack of rheumatism or disease of the liver, when gastric symptoms are present, congestion of blood to the head and chest with dyspnoea and chilliness, principally in choleraic subjects or those of sedentary habits.   Belladonna, Opium and Plumbum may be of service in acute cases. Mercurius and Podophyllum are sometimes called for in special cases. 

- BENERJEE.P Rheumatism Case 1  Name-Mrs.-  Age-27 or 28 years. Symptoms. Modalities-showing how the symptoms recorded in col. 1, are aggravated and ameliorated. Nature, temperament etc. of the patient as observed by the physician. Also note of results after the use of medicines prescribed. Medicine with potency. Date of using the medicine. 1. Mother of three children. 2. Paralysis of the right side after the birth of the youngest child. 3. Syphilitic taint from the father's side, and no miasmatic history from the husband's. Despondent; melancholy. 4. Dark complexion. 5. Fat and flabby. 6. Not much of a good housewife, and this might be due to her having often been confined to bed on account of her health. Indolent. 7. Awful weakness and restlessness. Aggravated at night so much so that she was awfully afraid of its approach. 8. Aching and burning in the lumbar region. This is so severe at times that the whole ...