HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA
by
WILLIAM BOERICKE, M.D.

 

  
BELLADONNA
Deadly Nightshade

Belladonna acts upon every part of the nervous system, producing active congestion, furious excitement, perverted special senses, twitching, convulsions and pain. It has a marked action on the vascular system, skin and glands. Belladonna always is associated with hot, red skin, flushed face, glaring eyes, throbbing carotids, excited mental state, hyperæsthesia of all senses, delirium, restless sleep, convulsive movements, dryness of mouth and throat with aversion to water, neuralgic pains that come and go suddenly (Oxytropis). Heat, redness, throbbing and burning. Great children's remedy. Epileptic spasms followed by nausea and vomiting. Scarlet fever and also prophylactic. Here use the thirtieth potency. Exophthalmic goitre. Corresponds to the symptoms of "air-sickness" in aviators. Give as preventive. No thirst, anxiety or fear. Belladonna stands for violence of attack and suddenness of onset. Bell for the extreme of thyroid toxæmia. Use 1x (Beebe).

Mind.--Patient lives in a world of his own, engrossed by specters and visions and oblivious to surrounding realities. While the retina is insensible to actual objects, a host of visual hallucinations throng about him and come to him from within. He is acutely alive and crazed by a flood of subjective visual impressions and fantastic illusions. Hallucinations; sees monsters, hideous faces. Delirium; frightful images; furious; rages, bites, strikes; desire to escape. Loss of consciousness. Disinclined to talk. Perversity, with tears. Acuteness of all senses. Changeableness.

Head.--Vertigo, with falling to left side or backwards. Sensitive to least contact. Much throbbing and heat. Palpitation reverberating in head with labored breathing. Pain; fullness, especially in forehead, also occiput, and temples. Headache from suppressed catarrhal flow. Sudden outcries. Pain worse light, noise, jar, lying down and in afternoon; better by pressure and semi-erect posture. Boring of head into pillow; drawn backward and rolls from side to side. Constant moaning. Hair splits; is dry and comes out. Headache worse on right side and when lying down; ill effects, colds, etc; from having hair cut.

Face.--Red, bluish-red, hot, swollen, shining; convulsive motion of muscles of face. Swelling of upper lip. Facial neuralgia with twitching muscles and flushed face.

Eyes.--Throbbing deep in eyes on lying down. Pupils dilated (Agnus). Eyes feel swollen and protruding, staring, brilliant; conjunctiva red; dry, burn; photophobia; shooting in eyes. Exophthalmus. Ocular illusions; fiery appearance. Diplopia, squinting, spasms of lids. Sensation as if eyes were half closed. Eyelids swollen. Fundus congested.

Ears.--Tearing pain in middle and external ear. Humming noises. Membrana tympani bulges and injected. Parotid gland swollen. Sensitive to loud tones. Hearing very acute. Otitis media. Pain causes delirium. Child cries out in sleep; throbbing and beating pain deep in ear, synchronous with heart beat. Hematoma auris. Acute and sub-acute conditions of Eustachian tube. Autophony-hearing one's voice in ear.

Nose.--Imaginary odors. Tingling in tip of nose. Red and swollen. Bleeding of nose, with red face. Coryza; mucus mixed with blood.

Mouth.--Dry. Throbbing pain in teeth. Gumboil. Tongue red on edges. Strawberry tongue. Grinding of teeth. Tongue swollen and painful. Stammering.

Throat.--Dry, as if glazed; angry-looking congestion (Ginseng); red, worse on right side. Tonsils enlarged; throat feels constricted; difficult deglutition; worse, liquids. Sensation of a lump. Œsophagus dry; feels contracted. Spasms in throat. Continual inclination to swallow. Scraping sensation. Muscles of deglutition very sensitive. Hypertrophy of mucous membrane.

Stomach.--Loss of appetite. Averse to meat and milk. Spasmodic pain in epigastrium. Constriction; pain runs to spine. Nausea and vomiting. Great thirst for cold water. Spasms of stomach. Empty retching. Abhorrence of liquids. Spasmodic hiccough. Dread of drinking. Uncontrollable vomiting.

Abdomen.--Distended, hot. Transverse colon protrudes like a pad. Tender, swollen. Pain as if clutched by a hand; worse, jar, pressure. Cutting pain across; stitches in left side of abdomen, when coughing, sneezing, or touching it. Extreme sensitiveness to touch, bed-clothes, etc (Laches).

Stools.--Thin, green, dysenteric; in lumps like chalk. Shuddering during stool. Stinging pain in rectum; spasmodic stricture. Piles more sensitive with backache. Prolapsus ani (Ignatia; Podoph).

Urine.--Retention. Acute urinary infections. Sensation of motion in bladder as of a worm. Urine scanty, with tenesmus; dark and turbid, loaded with phosphates. Vesical region sensitive. Incontinence, continuous dropping. Frequent and profuse. Hæmaturia where no pathological condition can be found. Prostatic hypertrophy.

Male.--Testicles hard, drawn up, inflamed. Nocturnal sweat of genitals. Flow of prostatic fluid. Desire diminished.

Female.--Sensitive forcing downwards, as if all the viscera would protrude at genitals. Dryness and heat of vagina. Dragging around loins. Pain in sacrum. Menses increased; bright red, too early, too profuse. Hæmorrhage hot. Cutting pain from hip to hip. Menses and lochia very offensive and hot. Labor-pains come and go suddenly. Mastitis pain, throbbing, redness, streaks radiate from nipple. Breasts feel heavy; are hard and red. Tumors of breast, pain worse lying down. Badly smelling hæmorrhages, hot gushes of blood. Diminished lochia.

Respiratory.--Drying in nose, fauces, larynx, and trachea. Tickling, short, dry cough; worse at night. Larynx feels sore. Respiration oppressed, quick, unequal. Cheyne-Stokes respiration (Cocaine; Opium). Hoarse; loss of voice. Painless hoarseness. Cough with pain in left hip. Barking cough, whooping cough, with pain in stomach before attack, with expectoration of blood. Stitches in chest when coughing. Larynx very painful; feels as if a foreign body were in it, with cough. High, piping voice. Moaning at every breath.

Heart.--Violent palpitation, reverberating in head, with labored breathing. Palpitation from least exertion. Throbbing all through body. Dichrotism. Heart seemed too large. Rapid but weakened pulse.

Extremities.--Shooting pains along limbs. Joints swollen, red, shining, with red streaks radiating. Tottering gait. Shifting rheumatic pains. Phlegmasia alba dolens. Jerking limbs. Spasms. Involuntary limping. Cold extremities.

Back.--Stiff neck. Swelling of glands of neck. Pain in nape, as if it would break. Pressure on dorsal region most painful. Lumbago, with pain in hips and thighs.

Skin.--Dry and hot; swollen, sensitive; burns scarlet, smooth. Eruption like scarlatina, suddenly spreading. Erythema; pustules on face. Glands swollen, tender, red. Boils. Acne rosacea. Suppurative wounds. Alternate redness and paleness of the skin. Indurations after inflammations. Erysipelas.

Fever.--A high feverish state with comparative absence of toxæmia. Burning, pungent, steaming, heat. Feet icy cold. Superficial blood-vessels, distended. Perspiration dry only on head. No thirst with fever.

Sleep.--Restless, crying out, gritting of teeth. Kept awake by pulsation of blood-vessels. Screams out in sleep. Sleeplessness, with drowsiness. Starting when closing the eyes or during sleep. Sleeps with hands under head (Ars; Plat).

Modalities.--Worse, touch, jar, noise, draught, after noon, lying down. Better, semi-erect.

Relationship.--Compare: Sanguisorba officinals 2x-6x, a member of the Rosaceæ family, (Profuse, long-lasting menses, especially in nervous patients with congestive symptoms to head and limbs. Passive hæmorrhages at climacteric. Chronic metritis. Hæmorrhage from lungs. Varices and ulcers). Mandragora--(Mandrake). A narcotic of the ancients-Restless excitability and bodily weakness. Desire for sleep. Has antiperiodic properties like China and Aranea. Useful in epilepsy and hydrophobia, also Cetonia (A. E. Lavine). Hyos (less fever, more agitation); Stram (more sensorial excitement, frenzy); Hoitzia-A Mexican drug, similar in action to Bellad (Useful in fever, scarlatinal eruption, measles, urticaria, etc. High fever with eruptive fevers. Dry mouth and throat, red face, injected eyes, delirium). Calcar is often required after Bell; Atropia. Alkaloid of Belladonna covers more the neurotic sphere of the Belladonna action (Great dryness of throat, almost impossible to swallow. Chronic stomach affections, with great pain and vomiting of all food. Peritonitis. All kind of illusions of sight. Everything appears large. Platina opposite). Hypochlorhydria; pyrosis. Motes over everything. On reading, words run together; double vision, all objects seem to be elongated. Eustachian tube and tympanic congestion. Affinity for the pancreas. Hyperacidity of stomach. Paroxysms of gastric pain; ovarian neuralgia.

Non-Homeopathic Uses.--Atropia and its salts are used for ophthalmic purposes, to dilate the pupil and paralyze the accommodation.

Given internally or hypodermically, it is antagonistic to Opium and Morphine. Physostigma and Prussic Acid. Narcotic poisons and mushroom poisoning. Renal colic 1-200 of a grain hypodermically.

Atropin injected subcutaneously in doses from a milligram upwards for intestinal obstruction threatening life.

Hypodermically 1-80 gr night sweats in phthisis.

Atropia 1-20 gr is antagonistic to 1 gr. Morphine.

Also used as a local anæsthetic, antispasmodic, and to dry up secretions, milk, etc. Hypodermically 1-80 gr night sweats in phthisis.

Dose.--Atropia Sulph, 1-120 to 1-60 grain.

Antidotes to Belladonna: Camph; Coff; Opium; Acon.

Complementary: Calc. Bellad (contains lime). Especially in semi-chronic and constitutional diseases.

Incompatible: Acet ac.

Dose.--First to thirtieth potency and higher. Must be repeated frequently in acute diseases.

  
BELLIS PERENNIS
Daisy

It acts upon the muscular fibers of the blood-vessels. Much muscular soreness. Lameness, as if sprained. Venous congestion, due to mechanical causes. First remedy in injuries to the deeper tissues, after major surgical work. Results of injuries to nerves with intense soreness and intolerance of cold bathing. After gout, debility of limbs.

Traumatism of the pelvic organs, auto-traumatism, expresses the condition calling for this remedy; ill effects from masturbation. Excellent remedy for sprains and bruises. Complaints due to cold food or drink when the body is heated, and in affections due to cold wind. Externally, in nævi. Acne. Boils all over. Sore, bruised feeling in the pelvic region. Exudations, stasis, swelling, come within the range of this remedy. Rheumatic symptoms. Does not vitiate the secretions. "It is a princely remedy for old laborers, especially gardeners" (Burnett).

Head.--Vertigo in elderly people. Headache from occiput to top of head. Forehead feels contracted. Bruised soreness. Itching around scalp and over back, worse from hot bath and bed.

Female.--Breasts and uterus engorged. Varicose veins in pregnancy. During pregnancy inability to walk. Abdominal muscles lame. Uterus feels sore, as if squeezed.

Sleep.--Wakes early in morning and cannot get to sleep again.

Abdomen.--Soreness of abdominal walls and of uterus. Stitches in spleen, sore, enlarged. Yellow, painless diarrhœa, foul odor, worse at night. Bloated; rumbling in bowels.

Skin.--Boils. Ecchymosis, swelling, very sensitive to touch. Venous congestion due to mechanical causes. Varicose veins with bruised sore feeling. Exudations and swellings. Acne.

Extremities.--Joints sore, muscular soreness. Itching on back and flexor surfaces of thighs. Pain down anterior of thighs. Wrist feels contracted as from elastic band around joint. Sprains feels contracted as from elastic band around joint. Sprains with great soreness. Railway spine.

Relationship.--Compare: Arnica; Arsenic; Staphis; Hamamelis; Bryonia; Vanadium (degenerative states).

Modalities.--Worse, left side; hot bath and warmth of bed; before storms; cold bathing; cold wind.

Dose.--Tincture to third potency.

  
BENZOICUM ACIDUM
Benzoic Acid

The most marked characteristic pertains to the odor and color of the urine. It has a marked action on metabolism. It produces and cures symptoms of a uric acid diathesis, with urine highly colored and very offensive, and gouty symptoms. Renal insufficiency. Child wants to be nursed in the arms, will not be laid down. Pains suddenly change their locality. Anti-sycotic. Gouty and asthmatic.

Mind.--Prone to dwell on unpleasant things in the past. Omits words in writing. Depression.

Head.--Vertigo inclination to fall sideways. Throbbing in temporal arteries, causes puffing around ears. Noises when swallowing. Ulceration of tongue. Swelling behind ears (Caps). Cold sweat on forehead. Pricking, puckered constriction of mouth, bluish and bleeding gums. Wens.

Nose.--Itching of septum. Pain in nasal bones.

Face.--Copper-colored spots. Red, with little blisters. Circumscribed redness of cheeks.

Stomach.--Sweat while eating; pressure in stomach, sensation of a lump.

Abdomen.--Cutting about navel. Stitching in liver region.

Rectum.--Stitches and constricted feeling. Puckering constriction of rectum. Itching and watery elevations around anus.

Stool.--Frothy, offensive, liquid, light-colored, like soapsuds, bowel movements, mostly windy.

Urine.--Repulsive odor; changeable color; brown, acid. Enuresis; dribbling, offensive urine of old men. Excess of uric acid. Vesical catarrh from suppressed gonorrhœa. Cystitis.

Respiratory.--Hoarse in morning. Asthmatic cough; worse at night; lying on right side. Chest very tender. Pain in region of heart. Expectoration, green mucus.

Back.--Pressure on spinal column. Coldness in sacrum. Dull pain in region of kidneys; worse, wine.

Extremities.--Joints crack on motion. Tearing with stitches. Pain in tendo Achillis. Rheumatic gout; nodes very painful. Gouty deposits. Ganglion; swelling of the wrist. Pain and swelling in knees. Bunion of great toe. Tearing pain in great toe.

Fever.--Cold hands, feet, back, knees. Chilliness; cold sweat. Internal heat on awakening.

Skin.--Red spots. Itching in spots.

Modalities.--Worse, in open air; by uncovering.

Relationship.--Useful after Colchic fails in gout; after Copavia in gonorrhœa.

Compare: Nitric acid; Ammon benz; Sabina; Tropoeolum.

Garden Nasturtium--(fetid urine).

Antidote: Copaiva.

Incompatible: Wine.

Dose.--Third to sixth potency.

  
BENZOLUM
Benzol, C6, H6
(BENZENUM - COAL NAPHTHA)

The most striking fact in the proving of Benzol seems to be the influence it had on the circulatory system. It caused a slowing of the pulse stream which in the guinea-pigs brought about the formation of infarcts. In the human provers it resulted in a decrease of the red and increase of white cells (R. F. Rabe, M. D).

It ought to be of use in Leucæmia. Eye symptoms striking. Hallucinations-Epileptiform attacks, coma, and anæsthesia.

Head.--Sense of falling through bed and floor. Pains from below upward. Tired and nervous.

Frontal headache to root of nose. Dizzy. Pressing feeling in head. Right sided headache.

Eyes.--Illusion of vision with wide open eyes. Twitching of lids. Photophobia, objects blurred. Aching in eyes and lids. Marked dilation of pupils. Failure to react to light, particularly daylight.

Nose.--Profuse fluent coryza. Especially in afternoon. Violent sneezing.

Male.--Swelling of right testicle. Severe pain in testicles. Itching of scrotum. Profuse urination.

Extremities.--Heavy limbs, cold legs, exaggerated knee-jerk. Pains from below upward.

Skin.--Eruption like measles. Perspiration on side not lain upon. Itching all over back.

Modalities.--Worse at night. Worse right side.

Relationship.--Compare: Benzin.--Petroleum ether-not as pure a compound as Benzene (Benzol). It is the same, but with a mixture of hydrocarbons. It seems to exercise a special influence on the nervous system and on the blood. Oxyhemoglobinemia. Physical weakness, cramps, exaggeration of knee jerks, nausea, vomit, dizziness, heaviness and coldness of limbs. Tremor of eyelids and tongue. Benzin, dinitricum--D. N. B.--(The most obvious results of poisoning by skin absorption are changes in the red blood corpuscles and liver degeneration in amblyopia, color-blindness, retinitis. Field of vision contracted. Black urine). Benzin nitricum. Mirbane (Dark, black blood, coagulates with difficulty; venous hyperæmia of the brain and general venous engorgement. Burning taste in mouth. Blue lips, tongue, skin, nails and conjunctivæ. Cold skin, pulse small, weak, breathing slow and irregular, unconsciousness, symptoms of apoplectic coma. Rolling of eyeballs in their vertical axis; pupils dilated. Nystagmus. Respiration very slow, difficult, sighing). Trinitrotoluene (T. N. T), Trotyl-is a high explosive, obtained by nitrating toluene-a product of coal tar distillation.

When the skin or hair is exposed to T.N.T by contact a characteristic yellow or tawny-orange stain is produce, which lasts for some weeks. Indicated in graver forms of anæmia (pernicious) and jaundice. Produces fatal toxic jaundice.

Dose.--Sixth potency.

  
BERBERIS VULGARIS
Barberry

Rapid change of symptoms-pains change in regard to place and character-thirst alternates with thirstlessness, hunger, and loss of appetite, etc. Acts forcibly on the venous system, producing pelvic engorgements and hæmorrhoids.

Hepatic, and rheumatic affections, particularly with urinary, hæmorrhoidal and menstrual complaints.

Old gouty constitutions. Pain in region of kidneys is most marked; hence its use in renal and vesical troubles, gall-stones, and vesical catarrh. It causes inflammation of kidneys with hæmaturia. Pains may be felt all over body, emanating from small of back. It has also marked action on the liver, promoting the flow of bile. Often called for in arthritic affections with urinary disturbances. Wandering, radiating pains. Acts well in fleshy persons, good livers, but with little endurance. Spinal irritation. All Berberis pains radiate, are not worse by pressure, but worse in various attitudes, especially standing and active exercise.

Head.--Listless, apathetic, indifferent. Puffy sensation, feeling as if becoming larger. Vertigo with attacks of fainting. Frontal headache. Chilliness in back and occiput. Tearing pain in auricle, and gouty concretions. Sensation of a tight cap pressing upon the whole scalp.

Nose.--Dry; obstinate catarrh of left nostril. Crawling in nostrils.

Face.--Pale, sickly. Sunken cheeks and eyes, with bluish circles.

Mouth.--Sticky sensation. Diminished saliva. Sticky, frothy saliva, like cotton (Nux mosch). Tongue feels scalded, vesicles on tongue.

Stomach.--Nausea before breakfast. Heartburn.

Abdomen.--Stitches in region of gall-bladder; worse, pressure, extending to stomach. Catarrh of the gall-bladder with constipation and yellow complexion. Stitching pain in front of kidneys extending to liver, spleen, stomach, groins, Poupart's ligament. Sticking deep in ilium.

Stool.--Constant urging to stool. Diarrhœa painless, clay-colored, burning, and smarting in anus and perineum. Tearing around anus. Fistula in ano.

Urinary.--Burning pains. Sensation as if some urine remained after urinating. Urine with thick mucus and bright-red, mealy sediment. Bubbling, sore sensation in kidneys. Pain in bladder region. Pain in the thighs and loins on urinating. Frequent urination; urethra burns when not urinating.

Male.--Neuralgia of spermatic cord and testicles. Smarting, burning, stitching in testicles, in prepuce and scrotum.

Female.--Pinching constriction in mons veneris, vaginismus, contraction and tenderness of vagina. Burning and soreness in vagina. Desire diminished, cutting pain during coition. Menses scanty, gray mucus, with pain in kidneys and chilliness, pain down thighs. Leucorrhœa, grayish mucus, with painful urinary symptoms. Neuralgia of ovaries and vagina.

Respiratory.--Hoarseness; polypus of larynx. Tearing stitches in chest and region of heart.

Back.--Stitches in neck and back; worse, respiration. Sticking pain in region of kidneys radiating thence around abdomen, to hips and groins. Numb, bruised sensation. Stitches from kidneys into bladder. Tearing, sticking with stiffness, making rising difficult, involving hips, nates, limbs, with numbness. Lumbago (Rhus; Tart em). Metatarsus and metacarpus feel sprained. Post-operative pain in lumbar region; soreness with sharp pain following course of circumflex iliac nerve to bladder with frequent urination.

Extremities.--Rheumatic paralytic pain in shoulders, arms, hands and fingers, legs and feet. Neuralgia under finger-nails, with swelling of finger-joints. Sensation of cold on outside of thighs. Heels pain, as if ulcerated. Stitching between metatarsal bones as from a nail when standing. Pain in balls of feet on stepping. Intense weariness and lameness of legs after walking a short distance.

Skin.--Flat warts. Itching, burning and smarting; worse, scratching; better, cold applications. Small pustules over whole body. Eczema of anus and hands. Circumscribed pigmentation following eczematous inflammation.

Fever.--Cold sensation in various parts, as if spattered with cold water. Warmth in lower part of back, hips, and thighs.

Modalities.--Worse, motion, standing. It brings on, or increases, urinary complaints.

Relationship.--Compare: Ipomea-Convolvulus Duratinus-Morning Glory. --(Pain in left lumbar muscles on stooping. Kidney disorders with pain in back. Much abdominal flatulence. Aching in top of right shoulder renal colic; aching in small of back and extremities), Aloe; Lycopod; Nux; Sarsap. Xanthorrhea arborea (severe pain in kidneys, cystitis and gravel. Pain from ureter to bladder and testicles; pain in small of back returns from least chill or damp). Xanthoriza apifolia-Shrub Yellow Root--contains Berberine. Dilatation of stomach and intestines, atony, enlarged spleen.

Antidotes: Camphor; Bell.

Dose.--Tincture, to sixth potency.

  
BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM
Mountain Grape
(BERBERIS AQUIFOLIUM - MAHONIA)

A remedy for the skin, chronic catarrhal affections, secondary syphilis. Hepatic torpor, lassitude and other evidences of incomplete metamorphosis; stimulates all glands and improves nutrition.

Head.--Sensation of a band just above ears. Bilious headache. "Scald head". Scaly eczema.

Face.--Acne. Blotches and pimples. Clears the complexion.

Stomach.--Tongue thickly coated, yellowish-brown; feels blistered. Burning in stomach. Nausea and hunger after eating.

Urine.--Stitching, crampy pains; thick mucus, and bright-red, mealy sediment.

Skin.--Pimply, dry, rough, scaly. Eruption on scalp extending to face and neck. Tumor of breast, with pain. Psoriasis. Acne. Dry eczema. Pruritus. Glandular induration.

Relationship.--Carbol acid; Euonym; Berb vulg; Hydr.

Dose.--Tincture in rather material doses.

  
BETA VULGARIS
Beet-root

Influences chronic catarrhal states and tuberculosis. The salt Betainum hydrochloricum obtained from the Beet root itself seem to be the best adapted to phthisical patients. Children yield very quickly to the action of the remedy. Use about the 2x Trit.

 

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