HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA
by
WILLIAM BOERICKE, M.D.

  
PAEONIA OFFICINALIS
Peony
(PAEONIA)

The rectal and anal symptoms are most important. Chronic ulcers on lower parts of body, leg, foot, toe, also breast, rectum.

Head.--Rush of blood to head and face. Nervous. Vertigo when moving. Burning in eyes and ringing in ears.

Rectum.--Biting, itching in anus; orifice swollen. Burning in anus after stool; then internal chilliness. Fistula ani, diarrhœa, with anal burning and internal chilliness. Painful ulcer, oozing offensive moisture on perineum. Hæmorrhoids, fissures, ulceration of anus and perineum, purple, covered with crusts. Atrocious pains with and after each stool. Sudden, pasty diarrhœa, with faintness in abdomen.

Chest.--Sticking pain in left chest. Heat in chest. Dull shooting from front to back through heart.

Extremities.--Pain in wrist and fingers; knees and toes. Weakness of legs, inhibiting walking.

Sleep.--Terrifying dreams, nightmare.

Skin.--Sensitive, painful. Ulcers below coccyx, around sacrum; varicose veins. Ulcers in general, from pressure, bedsores, etc. Itching, burning, as from nettles.

Relationship.--Compare: Glechoma-Ground Ivy--(rectal symptom). Hamam; Sil; Aesc; Ratanh (great constriction of anus; stools forced with great effort).

Antidotes: Ratanh; Aloe.

Dose.--Third potency.

  
PALLADIUM METALLICUM
The Metal
(PALLADIUM)

An ovarian remedy; produces the symptom-complex of chronic Oophoritis. Useful where the parenchyma of the gland is not totally destroyed. Acts also on mind and skin. Motor weakness, averse to exercise.

Mind.--Weeping mood. Love of approbation. Pride; easily offended. Inclined to use violent language. Keeps up brightly when in company, much exhausted afterwards, and pains aggravated.

Head.--Feels as if swung backward and forward. Temporo-parietal neuralgia with pain in shoulder. Pain across top of head from ear to ear; worse after an evening's entertainment, with irritability and sour eructations. Sallow complexion.

Abdomen.--Shooting pain from navel to pelvis. Sensation as if intestines were bitten off. Intestines feel strangulated. Soreness of abdomen, swelling in right groin. Flatulency.

Female.--Uterine prolapse and retroversion. Subacute pelvic peritonitis, with right-sided pain and backache; menorrhagia. Cutting pain in uterus; relieved after stool. Pain and swelling in region of right ovary. Shooting or burning pain in pelvis and bearing-down; relieved by rubbing. Soreness and shooting pain from navel of breast. Glairy leucorrhœa. Menstrual discharge while nursing. Stitches in right breast near nipple. It is indicated in that gynæcological condition where the disease had its inception in the right ovary, the uterine prolapse and retroversion, the subacute pelvic peritonitis and concomitant symptoms being secondary (F. Aguilar, M. D).

Extremities.--Pruritus. Tired feeling in small of back. Fleeting, neuralgic pains in extremities, Heavy and tired in limbs. Darting pain from toes to hips. Rheumatic pain in right shoulder; in right hip. Sciatica.

Relationship.--Complementary; Plat.

Compare: Arg; Helon; Lil; Apis.

Dose.--Sixth to thirtieth potency.

  
PARIS QUADRIFOLIA
One-berry

Head symptoms marked and verified. Sensation of expansion and consequent tension. Coldness of right side of body, left hot. Catarrhal complaints, stuffed feeling at root of nose. Disorder of sense of touch.

Mind.--Imaginary foul smells. Feels too large. Garrulous, prattling, vivacious.

Head.--Sensation as if scalp were contracted and bones scraped. Soreness of top of head; cannot brush hair. Aches, as from pulling a string from eyes to occiput. Occipital headache, with a feeling of weight. Head feels very large, expanded. Scalp sensitive. Numb feeling on left side of head.

Eyes.--Affections of the eyebrows. Eyes feel heavy, as if they were projected; sensation of a string through eyeballs. Expanded, as though lids did not cover.

Face.--Neuralgia; hot stitches in left malar bone, which is very sore. Has relieved in inflammation of the antrum, where eye symptoms co-existed.

Mouth.--Tongue dry when awaking-Coated white, without thirst, with bitter or diminished taste.

Respiratory.--Stuffed condition and fullness at root of nose. Periodical, painless hoarseness. Cough as from vapor of sulphur in trachea. Constant hawking, on account of viscid, green mucus in larynx and trachea.

Extremities.--Sense of weight and weariness in nape of neck and across shoulders. Neuralgia, beginning in left intercostal region, and extending into left arm. Arm becomes stiff, fingers clenched. Neuralgia of coccyx; pulsating, sticking, when sitting. Fingers often feel numb. Numbness of upper limbs. Everything feels rough.

Relationship.--Compare: Pastinaca-Parsnip--(Loquacity; delirium tremens; illusions of vision; intolerance on milk; Roots used dietetically, cooked in water or as broth or as salad for consumptives and "kidney stones"). Sil; Calc; Nux; Rhus.

Incompatible; Ferr phos.

Antidote: Coff.

Dose.--Third potency.

  
PARAFFINUM
Purified Paraffin
(PARAFFINE)

Valuable in uterine affections. Particularly serviceable in constipation. Knife-like pains. Pains extend from one part to another, and alternate. Pain in stomach alternates with pain in throat and spine.

Head.--Left side of head and face suffer most; pains stinging and twisting. Pain as if a nail were driven in left side of vertex. Twisting in left ear.

Eyes.--Vision dim; black specks before. Lids red. Sensation as if there were fat on the eyes.

Mouth.--Tearing, twisting pain in teeth down to lower jaw. Full of saliva; feels sticky; bitter taste.

Stomach.--Hungry all the time. Pain across stomach. Pain in stomach alternates with pain in throat and spine, extends to chest with belching. Fixed pain in left hypochondrium, as if parts were being twisted. Palpitation with stomach pains.

Abdomen.--Pain in lower abdomen, extending to genitals, rectum and coccyx; better, sitting.

Rectum.--Frequent desire for stool. Obstinate constipation in children (Alumina; Nyctanthes). Chronic constipation, with hæmorrhoids and continual urging to stool, without result.

Female.--Menses too late, black, abundant. Milky leucorrhœa. Nipples pain when touched, as if sore inside. Stabbing pain in mons veneris. Very hot urine with burning pains in vulva.

Extremities.--Pain in spine extending to inguinal region and in both loins, when ascending the stairs. Feeling of electric shocks in all joints. Wrenching pain in calves, extending into toes, in joints. Feet swollen with tearing in ankles and soles.

Skin.--Burns, even of third degree, with sloughing and sepsis. Wash with sterile water and dry and spray with paraffin, and cover with thin layer of cotton. Useful also in frost bites.

Relationship.--Compare: Naphthalin; Petrol; Kreos; Eupion.

Dose.--Lower triturations and thirtieth potency.

  
PAREIRA BRAVA
Virgin-vine
(CHONDRODENDRON TOMENTOSUM)

The urinary symptoms are most important. Useful in renal colic, prostatic affections, and catarrh of bladder. Sensation as if bladder were distended, with pain. Pain going down thigh.

Urinary.--Black, bloody, thick mucous urine. Constant urging; great straining; pain down thighs during efforts to urinate. Can emit urine only when he goes on his knees, pressing head firmly against the floor. Feeling of the bladder being distended and neuralgic pain in the anterior crural region. (Staph.) Dribbling after micturition. (Selen.) Violent pain in glans penis. Itching along urethra; urethritis, with prostatic trouble. Inflammation of urethra; becomes almost cartilaginous.

Relationship.--Compare: Parietaria (renal calculi; nightmare, patient dreaming of being buried alive); Chimaphila (chronic catarrhal congestion following cystitis; acute prostatitis; feeling of a ball in perineum when sitting); Fabiana, see Pichi (dysuria; post-gonorrhœal complications; gravel; vesical catarrh); Uva; Hydrang; Berber; Ocim; Hedeom.

Dose.--Tincture, to third potency.

  
PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS
Bitter-broom
(PARTHENIUM - ESCOBA AMARGO)

A Cuban remedy for fevers, especially malarial. Increased flow of milk. Amenorrhœa and general debility. Cheyne-Stokes breathing. After Quinine.

Head.--Aches, extending to nose; feels swelled; pain in frontal eminence. Eyes heavy; eyeballs ache. Ringing in ears. Pain at root of nose; feels swollen. Aching in teeth. Teeth feel on edge; too long. Disordered vision. Tinnitus and pain in ears.

Abdomen.--Pain in left hypochondrium. Spleen affections.

Modalities.--Worse, after sleep, sudden motion. Better, after rising, and walking about.

Relationship.--Compare: China; Ceanoth; Helianth.

  
PASSIFLORA INCARNATA
Passion-flower

An efficient anti-spasmodic. Whooping-cough. Morphine habit. Delirium tremens. Convulsions in children; neuralgia. Has a quieting effect on the nervous system. Insomnia, produces normal sleep, no disturbance of cerebral functions, neuroses of children, worm-fever, teething, spasms. Tetanus. Hysteria; puerperal convulsions. Painful diarrhœa. Acute mania. Atonic condition generally present. Asthma, 10-30 gtt every ten minutes for a few doses. Locally, in erysipelas.

Head.--Violent ache as if top of head would come off-eyes felt as if pushed out.

Stomach.--Leaden, dead feeling after or between meals; flatulence and sour eructations.

Sleep.--Restless and wakeful, resulting from exhaustion. Especially in the feeble, infants and the aged. Insomnia of infants and the aged, and the mentally worried, and overworked, with tendency to convulsions. Nocturnal cough.

Dose.--Large doses of mother tincture are required-thirty to sixty drops, repeated several times.

  
PENTHORUM SEDOIDES
Virginia Stonecrop
(PENTHORUM)

A remedy for coryza, with rawness and wet feeling in nose. Throat feels raw. Chronic disorders of mucous membranes, with irritability. Chronic post-nasal catarrh; chronic pharyngitis, mucous membrane purple and relaxed. Posterior nares feel moist and raw; nose and ears feel full. Aphonia, hoarseness, relaxed vocal cords. Hypersecretion of mucous membranes. Itching of anus and burning in rectum. Trouble in pharyngeal vault and Eustachian tube.

Nose.--Constant wet feeling in nose, which no amount of blowing will relieve. Discharge thick, pus-like, streaked with blood. Post-nasal catarrh of puberty.

Dose.--Not very active, and better adapted to chronic affections; its use should be persisted in for some time. Lower potencies.

Relationship.--Compare: Penthororun often follows Pulsat. Sang; Hydr.

  
PERTUSSINUM
Coqueluchin
(PERTUSSIN)

Taken from the glairy and stringy mucus containing the virus of whooping-cough. Introduced by John H. Clarke for the treatment of whooping-cough and other spasmodic coughs.

Relationship.--Compare: Drosera; Corallium; Cuprum; Naphthal; Mephitis; Passiflor; Coccus Cacti; Magnes phos.

Dose.--The thirtieth potency.

  
PETROLEUM
Crude Rock-oil

Strumous diathesis, especially the dark type, who suffer from catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes, gastric acidity and cutaneous eruptions.

Very marked skin symptoms, acting on sweat and oil glands; Ailments are worse during the winter season. Ailments from riding in cars, carriages, or ships; lingering gastric and lung troubles; chronic diarrhœa. Long-lasting complaints follow mental states-fright, vexation, etc. Chlorosis in young girls with or without ulceration of the stomach.

Mind.--Marked aggravation from mental emotions. Loses his way in streets. Thinks he is double, or some one else lying alongside. Feels that death is near, and must hurry to settle affairs. Irritable, easily offended, vexed at everything. Low-spirited, with dimness of sight.

Head.--Sensitive, as of a cold breeze blowing on it. Feels numb, as if made of wood; occiput heavy, as of lead (Opium). Vertigo on rising, felt in occiput, as if intoxicated, or like sea-sickness. Moist eruption on scalp; worse, back and ears. Scalp sore to touch, followed by numbness. Headache, must hold temples to relieve; provoked by shaking while coughing. Use thirtieth.

Eyes.--Loss of eyelashes. Dim sight; far-sighted; cannot read fine print without glasses; blenorrhœa of lachrymal sac; marginal blepharitis. Canthi fissured. Skin around eyes dry and scurfy.

Ears.--Noise unbearable, especially from several people talking together. Eczema, intertrigo, etc, in and behind ears, with intense itching. Parts sore to touch. Fissures in meatus. Dry catarrh, with deafness and noises. Ringing and cracking in ears. Chronic Eustachian catarrh. Diminished hearing.

Nose.--Nostrils ulcerated, cracked, burn; tip of nose itches. Epistaxis. Ozæna, with scabs and muco-purulent discharge.

Face.--Dry; feels constricted, as if covered with albumin.

Stomach.--Heartburn; hot, sharp, sour eructation. Distention. Feeling of great emptiness. Strong aversion to fat food, meat; worse, eating cabbage. Hunger, immediately after stool. Nausea, with accumulation of water in mouth. Gastralgia when stomach is empty; relieved by constant eating (Anac; Sep). Ravenous hunger. Must rise at night and eat (Psorin). Odor of garlic.

Abdomen.--Diarrhœa only in the daytime; watery, gushing and Itching of anus. After cabbage; with empty feeling of stomach.

Male.--Herpetic eruption on perineum. Prostate inflamed and swollen. Itching in urethra.

Female.--Before menses, throbbing in head (Kreos). Leucorrhœa, profuse, albuminous (Alum; Bor; Bov; Calc p). Genitals sore and moist. Sensation of moisture (Eup purp). Itching and mealy coating of nipple.

Respiratory.--Hoarseness (Carbo; Caust; Phos) dry cough and oppression of chest; worse, cold air. Dry cough at night, coming deep from chest. Croup and laryngeal diphtheria.

Heart.--Sensation of coldness (Carb an; Nat mur). Fainting, with ebullitions, heat and palpitation.

Back.--Pain in nape of neck, stiff and painful. Weakness in small of back. Coccyx painful.

Extremities.--Chronic sprains. Fetid sweat in axillæ. Knees stiff. Tips of fingers rough, cracked, fissured every winter. Scalding sensation in knee. Cracking in joints.

Skin.--Itching at night. Chilblains, moist, itch and burn. Bed-sores. Skin dry, constricted, very sensitive, rough and cracked, leathery. Herpes. Slightest scratch makes skin suppurate (Hepar). Intertrigo; psoriasis of hands. Thick, greenish crusts, burning and itching; redness, raw; cracks bleed easily. Eczema. Rhagades worse in winter.

Fever.--Chilliness, followed by sweat. Flushes of heat, particularly of the face and head; worse at night. Perspiration on feet and axillæ.

Modalities.--Worse, dampness, before and during a thunder-storm, from riding in cars, passive motion; in winter, eating, from mental states. Better, warm air; lying with head high; dry weather.

Relationship.--Compare: Carbo; Graph; Sulph; Phos.

Complementary: Sepia.

Antidotes: Nux; Coccul.

Dose.--Third to thirtieth and higher potencies. Material doses often better.

  
PETROSELINUM SATIVUM
Parsley
(PETROSELINUM)

The urinary symptoms give the keynotes for this remedy. Piles with much itching.

Urinary.--Burning, tingling, from perineum throughout whole urethra; sudden urging, to urinate; frequent, voluptuous tickling in fossa navicularis. Gonorrhœa; sudden, irresistible desire to urinate; intense biting, itching, deep in urethra; milky discharge.

Stomach.--Thirsty and hungry, but desire fails on beginning to eat or drink.

Relationship.--Compare: Apiol-the active principle of Parsley--(in dysmenorrhœa); Canth; Sars.: Cannab; Merc.

Dose.--First to third potency.

 

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