Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Premature old age: On looking over this remedy as a whole it will appear to you that you have been studying the characteristics of one prematurely old.

You will often see symptoms coming on in one at fifty years of age that should appear at eighty, and after studying this remedy you will see that the same aspect is presented, a premature old age.

We recognize trembling and a peculiar kind of feebleness that cannot be described by any expression but senility; it is not the confusion of mind belonging to sickness, but the peculiar state we recognize in old people, in declining life; trembling and tottering and a dreamy state of mind with forgetfulness.

He goes on from one subject to another, asking a question, and, without waiting for it to be answered, asking another.

And so he jumps about from one topic to another. It can hardly be said to be confusion, it is a dreamy state of mind, a state of senility.

This remedy is useful when such a state is found in young persons, when the mind is not insane and yet it is weak. Especially is it indicated in those persons who manifest a momentary, fleeting inquisitiveness, jumping from one subject to another.

Often a patient asks me one question after another, never waiting to have the first one answered, a flitting, flighty talker, who does not seem to realize that I have not answered his questions; that patient, I say to myself, needs Ambra grisea.

That state of mind belongs to modern society women in such great frequency that you will be astonished to note it on all hands.

A modern society belle that could not darn the heel of her stocking to save her soul will in a few years get into just that state, and even Ambra will not cure her.

But there is a kind of nervous sickness manifested by these symptoms that Ambra grisea will cure. Alternation of depression of spirits with vehemence of temper is an other feature. That naturally belongs to old age.

A period of greatest excitability is often followed by depression, a state of indifference to all things, to joy, to grief, to people etc., treating with indifference things that would naturally break the heart of a well-balanced person.

He does not even wonder why he is not excited over these wonderful things, so decided is the state of indifference. Many of the complaints are worse in the morning.

He gets up with confusion and dullness of mind and is in a dreamy state and towards evening he takes on symptoms of insanity.

Vertigo: Ambra is one of the most frequently indicated medicines in simple, nondescript vertigo of old men.

So dizzy that they cannot go out on the street; so dizzy upon getting up in the morning that they must wait a while until they can get a-round on their feet. It is the dizziness belonging to senility and to premature old age.

Mind: Now, when this man undertakes to meditate upon something his ideas are whisked away. It is a sort of confusion with vanishing of ideas.

He has to make an unusual effort a few times to bring his thoughts back to the place before he can concentrate the mind to meditate upon some idea.

But while concentration of the mind is difficult, he is compelled to sit and dwell upon the most disagreeable things that force themselves upon him and he cannot get rid of them.

It is somewhat analogous to Natrum mur., but the peculiar feature of the Natr. mur. is that she delights to dwell upon past unpleasant occurrences and lies awake at night thinking about them.

Ambra grisea is forced to dwell upon such things. Images, false faces, hideous imaginations, fancies and visions annoy him and keep him awake.

In the semi-dreamy state he is kept holding up before his mind these grimaces. Such a state of mind may come on from business embarrassments with vertigo, congestion to the head and brain fag.

One thing running through this remedy is that the presence of other persons aggravates the symptoms; also the marked aggravation from conversation.

A woman, when attended by a nurse, is unable to have a stool without sending the nurse into another room. In spite of much straining she can do nothing unless alone.

It is said in Natr. mur. that the patient cannot urinate in the presence of other persons.

The urine will not start when anyone is around. That is a port of general feature of this remedy. Confusion of mind and embarrassment in the presence of other persons. Embarrassment in company. As soon as he goes into company there is flushing, trembling, nervous excitement and the thoughts vanish.

With these symptoms the patient imagines that he is going out of his mind, and finally he settles down into a state of melancholy, sadness and despair, and does not want to live. He loathes his life and wants to die.

"Great sadness."

"Melancholy, sits for days weeping."

Such is the mental state of this prematurely old patient with broken down constitution. It is a picture of a wreck and the question will arise when you find a patient that looks and acts in this way whether you have received him in time to cure him.

You readily see you have before you one who is going down hill and going into insanity of one form or another. A physician sees the forerunner of a great breakdown when he sees an Ambra grisea patient with the nervous mental state, the quivering, trembling and excitement in one who was once a strong, vigorous man.

Some great business or domestic shock has come upon this patient. It is not the aspect you see when phthisis is coming on; you do not we the cachectic condition, but it is a prostration of the nervous system, a mental prostration.

A man goes through the trial of one death after another in the family and there seems to be nothing remaining; he cannot look at it philosophically; he has lost his business and his friends and then he takes on dreaminess and wonders whether life is worthing living.

Then it is you get the Ambra grisea aspect.

Modalities: Many of the complaints come on in the morning and many come on after eating.

"Vertigo with feeling of weight on vertex; worse after sleep," but especially in the morning.

It is not mentioned in the text, but it is also worse after eating.

"Had to lie down on account of vertigo and feeling of weakness in stomach."

Running through the nervous symptoms we have music is intolerable; music makes him tremble, aggravates his mental symptoms and gives him pain in the back as from a hammer.

A number of physical symptoms are brought out by listening to music. The tones seem as if they were a material substance taking hold of him.

Complaints are often one-sided; perspiration on one side of the body or perspiration on the affected side.

"On right side of head, a spot where hair when touched pains as if sore."

The same sensation is in the skip, oversensitive to touch.

"Scalp feels sore in the morning when awaking; this is followed by a sensation of numbness."

The word numbness you will find running through the complaints.

You will find a peculiar kind of numbness, such as belongs to old people. Diminished sensibility of the parts; feeble circulation.

Eyes: Again, we find under the eye symptoms,

"Dullness of vision as if from looking through a mist."

There is dimness of vision coming on without any condition in the eye that would justify it. It is a nervous dimness of vision, a senile paralysis coming on.

"Itching on eyelid as if a sty was forming."

Itching is felt all over the body; itching in all the little openings.

Among the symptoms that, are not in the text and that are decided symptoms belonging to this remedy are,

"Pressing headache starting from both temples, drawing and tearing in the head, to and fro. Shooting through the head, lancinating, cutting pains, worse on exertion, better from quiet and lying. Headache when blowing nose.

Pressing pain in the left frontal eminence and in the eye. Burning in the right eye and in the eye-lids. Tearing in short streaks in and upon the right eye, pressure on the left eye-brow, shooting, aggravated after eating; lachrymation."

These are in the original provings, but not in the text; they have been left out. This is the case all through the Guiding Symptoms; important symptoms were left out because it was necessary to cut down the work.

Hearing:

"Hearing decreases."

Dullness of hearing without any organic affection of the ear. So perverted is his ability to hear that music aggravates his symptoms, that is through the nerves of hearing.

"Listening to music brings on congestion to head."

Music aggravates his cough. Think of one commencing to cough simply because he hears music! What a strange thing that is! Calcarea has such sensitiveness that the stroke of the piano is painful in parts, especially in the larynx.

Bleeding: This remedy is full of bleeding.

Copious bleeding from the nose in the morning. There we get the morning aggravation again. We get the idea of the feeble circulation because of the easy oozings from mucous membranes.

"Copious nose bleed early in bed."

"Dried blood gathered' in nose."

"Long continued dryness of the nose, frequent irritation as from sneezing."

In the nose an old, dry catarrh with atrophic condition of the mucous membrane. The nose inside becomes shiny and withered.

Mouth and throat: Dryness of the mouth without thirst.

Biting pain in the throat between the acts of swallowing. Rawness in the throat. The throat complaints are worse in the morning. Complaints are worse after eating and worse from warm drinks, especially from warm milk.

"After eating, cough and gagging."

There is a peculiar combination of symptoms about the throat. Dryness and accumulation of mucus in the throat which he tries to expel, and, when making an effort to cough out the mucus he gags and sometimes vomits.

Stomach and abdomen: Vomiting from cough. Weakness at the pit of the stomach; after every evacuation; in "all-gone" feeling in the pit of the stomach.

Pressure deep in the region of the liver; worse in the morning; worse after eating; worse after stool. Distension of the abdomen with great flatulence, especially after eating.

Some symptoms are worse after drinking. Sometimes these complaints come on in the middle of the night, rousing him up with rumbling and cutting in the bowels.

The abdomen is cold; it feels as if the whole inside of the abdomen were cold. At other times the coldness seems to be on one side of the abdomen.

Inveterate constipation in old persons, and especially when it is impossible to have anyone near at the time, of stool.

"Frequent ineffectual desire for stool; this makes her very anxious; at this time presence of other persons becomes unbearable."

After the normal stool there is pressure in the abdomen or a sense of emptiness and weakness in the abdomen which is better after passing flatus or eructation.

Urines: Bloody urine with red sediment in the urine.

Urine when emitted is clouded, yellowish-brown and deposits a brownish sediment.

"Sour smelling urine." The urine is copious.

"During urination burning, smarting, itching and titillation in the urethra and vulva."

"Sore rawness between the thighs."

"Voluptuous itching on scrotum."

"Violent morning erections without desire," with numbness of the genitals.

The symptoms are most erratic, as much so, as in Ignatia and Natr. mur. Taken as a whole they can be reconciled, but taken a few at a time they seem wonderfully inconsistent. You must get the whole remedy in order to comprehend it.

Female: Copious discharge of blood between the menstrual periods.

"Discharge of blood between periods at every little accident."

Discharge of blood from the vagina from pressing at hard stool; even from a walk that is a little too long or from too great exertion.

"During menses left leg becomes quite blue from distended varices, with pressive pain in leg."

"Lying down aggravates uterine symptoms," quite an unexpected thing.

Menses too early and too profuse.

"Menses appear seven days before time," and then comes that horrible itching of the genitals;

"soreness and itching with swelling of labia."

Asthma: Another marked feature of this remedy that you might expect with all this nervous excitement and prostration is dyspnoea with cardiac symptoms, difficult breathing, a sort of asthma. It comes on from any little exertion.

Asthma on attempting coition,

"Itching, scraping and soreness in larynx and trachea."

"Titillation in throat, larynx and trachea."

Everywhere there is itching, and the itching is very often a form of crawling.

"Asthma of old people and children," in feeble, tremulous, weakly ones.

"Whistling chest during breathing."

"Spasmodic cough."

Violent spasmodic cough with frequent eructations and hoarseness."

A good deal of this cough is of nervous origin. It is a cough with excitement, with nervousness, with trembling, which would make one of considerable experience wonder if that patient did not have brain and spinal cord trouble.

Nervous cough, such as occurs often, in spinal irritation. Cough from constriction of the larynx followed by copious flow of white mucus.

This is a paroxysmal cough, much like whooping cough. Asthmatic dyspnoea from any little exertion, from music, from excitement. Cough with congestion of blood to the head. Cough from thinking and from anxiety.

It is not very long after these symptoms show themselves before this patient will emaciate and wither. until the skin looks like dried beef. With all he is a tremulous and shaky patient.

He complains a great deal of tearing pressure deep in the left side of the chest. Sensation of rawness in the chest and itching in the chest. Titillation and itching, moving about here and there if he tries to touch the place and scratch it.

You will not be surprised to know that this patient suffers from palpitation of the heart upon slight exertion, from excitement, from music, from any effort to put the mind on anything, with trembling and quivering.

And this palpitation he notices even to the extremities; he throbs all over. His extremities pulsate. He is conscious of his arteries everywhere and the palpitation of his heart causes oppression of breathing.

The limbs easily become numb; pressed upon in the slightest manner they go to sleep; go to sleep on being crossed. Coldness, trembling and stiffness of the extremities. The finger nails become brittle and are shriveled.

The arms go to sleep when lying down.

"Sore and raw between the thighs and in hollow of knees."

Heaviness of lower limbs, Paralytic weakness; the patient is growing old; senility is coming on.

This remedy has cured the premature trembling that comes on in middle-aged persons.

It has cured the "going to sleep" and numbness and feeble circulation with loss of muscular power. It is very suitable in children who are excitable and nervous and weak.

"In lean persons." "Old persons and children."

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Ambergris. Most probably a morbid product found in the Sperm Whale or floating in the sea. (Not to be confounded with Amber-Succinum.) Trituration and tincture.

Clinical.─Anus, irritation of. Asthma. Bashfulness. Brain, softening of. Cardiac asthma. Convulsions. Cough. Deafness. Emaciation. Epistaxis. Face, pimples on. Hysteria. Jaundice. Menstrual irregularity. Music, intolerance of. Nervousness. Nymphomania. Pruritus vulvae. Puerperal convulsions. Ranula. Reaction defective. Spleen, pain in. Tympanites.

Characteristics.─Ambra produces faintness (Moschus), nervousness, jerks, and twitches. Reflex action is increased. The patient has an embarrassed air; the bashful state is very characteristic in certain connections. Embarrassed in company. Cough worse when many people are present. As if in a dream. Forgetful. There is defective reaction in nervous patients. Sensation of icy coldness in abdomen. The pelvic organs are painfully influenced. There is voluptuous itching on the scrotum and some rawness below the thighs in the male. In the female there is discharge of blood between the periods at every little accident, as straining at stool or extra work. Severe itching on pudenda. During urination, itching, tickling, burning of vulva and urethra. Nymphomania, with discharge of bluish white mucus. In childbed, obstinate constipation and tenesmus with bashfulness; cannot make the attempt to stool if any one is present, even the nurse. There is a tickling, spasmodic cough. Cough excited by speaking. Night cough. Cough followed by copious belching. Itching in chest. The limbs go to sleep easily. Finger nails are brittle. Sweat on slightest exertion. Sleepless from worry; retires tired, wakeful as soon as touches pillows. < Warmth; > cold; < from overlifting. Suited to excitable, nervous children. Nervous persons. Lean persons. Old persons. Nervous bilious temperament. "Dried-up" nervous persons. "Thin, scrawny women."

Relations.─Compare: Moschus (faintness; hysteric asthma); Castor., Asaf., Pso. and Valer. (defective reaction); Coca (bashfulness); Kali bro., Nux v. (increased reflexes); Calc., Nat. c. (coldness in abdomen); Act. r. (night cough); Nux v. (thin, nervous persons); Ars. (Asthma); Phos. (asthma, nervous excitability; "irritable weakness"; slender build); Bov. (flow of blood between the periods); Lach. and Sep. (< from overlifting); Coff., Chi., Ign., Sul., Puls., Staph.; Sec. (scrawny women). Antidoted by: Camph., Coff., Nux v., Puls., Staph. Antidote to: Staph. (especially the voluptuous itching of scrotum); Nux v.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Great restlessness.─Hastiness and nervous excitement when talking.─Memory impaired.─Slow of comprehension, has to read a sentence over and over again, and then does not understand; thinking powers are quite impaired.─Melancholy.─Inconsolable sadness.─Anxiety, esp. in the evening.─Timidity.─Despair, and disgust of life.─Repugnance to laughter and conversation.─Excitement, agitation, and precipitation, chiefly during intellectual labours.─Imagination occupied with grinning faces and wanton images.─Absence of ideas.─Difficult conception.─Embarrassed manner in society; bashful.

2. Head.─Attack of dizziness, esp. on walking in the open air.─Vertigo, which compels the patient to lie down, with a sensation of weakness in the stomach.─In the morning, headache as after a nocturnal debauch.─Sensation of weakness in the head, with external shivering.─Pressive pain in the head, every two days, with heat in the head, burning in the eyes, and paleness in the face.─Pressure in the forehead, with fear of losing one's reason.─Pressing pain in the forehead and vertex, with heat in the head, with pale face on alternate days, with fear of losing his senses.─Pressive squeezing, with perplexity, principally in the forehead and occiput.─Congestion of blood in the head, esp. on hearing music.─Acute sensation of drawing in the head, with ulcers on the scalp.─Dartings in the head.─Pain in the head, as if caused by a strain from lifting a weight.─Pain in the scalp on its being touched, with falling off of the hair.─The scalp feels sore in the morning, when awaking: this is followed by a sensation of numbness, extending over the whole body.

3. Eyes.─Pressure on the eyes, with heaviness, and a sensation as if the eyes were too deep in the head, with a difficulty of opening them in the morning.─Insufferable tickling round the eyes.─Itching in the eyelid, as if a sty were being formed.─Inflammatory redness of the sclerotica, with injection of the vessels.─Confusion of sight, like a mist, and obscurity before the eyes.

4. Ears.─Acute sensation of drawing in the ears.─Tension in the ears.─Crawling and tickling in the interior of the ears.─Tinkling and buzzing before the ears.─Increasing deafness; deaf in one ear, roaring and whistling in the ear.

5. Nose.─Spasms in the alae nasi.─Nasal haemorrhage, principally in the morning.─Clots or dry blood in the nose.─Frequent sneezing.─Dryness and stoppage of the nose, with pain, as of excoriation.─Dry coryza.─Chronic suppression of the nasal mucus.

6. Face.─Redness and heat, sometimes transient, of the face.─Jaundiced face.─Convulsive movements in the muscles of the face.─Tickling and itching titillation in the face, with eruption of pimples; the same in the forehead, and in the region of the whiskers.─Red spot on the cheeks, cramps in the lips.─Cramp of the lower lip.─Hot lips.

7. Teeth.─Drawing, shooting pains, chiefly in the teeth that are carious, and esp. in the open air; increased by taking anything hot.─Drawing toothache, sometimes on one side and then on the other.─Bleeding of the gums.─Painful swelling of the gums.

8. Mouth.─In the morning, on waking, dryness and sensation of numbness in the mouth, in the tongue, and in the lips.─Itching and smarting in the mouth.─Vesicles in the mouth, with burning pain.─Nodosities, with pain, like excoriation, below the tongue.─Tongue coated white, or greyish yellow.─Offensive smell in the mouth (in the morning).─Ranula.

9. Throat.─Sensation as of a plug in the throat, with difficulty of swallowing.─Strangling in the pharynx on swallowing food.─Gnawing and scratching in the throat.─Accumulation of greyish mucus in the throat, with inclination to vomit, and vomiting when hawking.─In the morning, hawking up of mucus.─Asthma in lean and delicate old people.

10. Appetite.─Insipid or rancid taste.─Want of appetite.─Sourness in the mouth after taking milk.─After eating, pressure at the pit of the throat, as if a piece had stopped there.─After eating, cough and gaping, and a feeling as if food did not go down into the stomach.─Entire thirstlessness.

11. Stomach.─Imperfect eructations.─Frequent eructations, often sour, or with the taste of the food which may have been taken.─Hiccough after having smoked tobacco.─Pyrosis principally in the evening, or on walking in the open air.─Nausea and vomiting.─Pressure and cramp-like pain in the stomach.─Sensation of burning in the stomach and in the precordial region.─Heartburn from drinking milk.

12. Abdomen.─Hepatic pains, most frequently pressive.─Pressive pain in the epigastrium and in the abdomen.─Heaviness in the belly.─Tension and inflation of the belly, principally after eating and drinking.─Compression in the belly, sometimes in the morning.─Cutting pains in the evening, after midnight, and in bed in the morning with diarrhoea.─Pain, as from a wound in the abdominal muscles, on coughing and on turning the body.─Pain in the spleen, as if something were torn off.─Sensation of coldness in abdomen, sometimes on one side only.─In the evening sensation of drawing in the abdominal muscles.─Incarcerated flatus.─Flatulent colic in the night.

13. Stool and Anus.─Constipation and tardy stools.─Fruitless desire to go to stool, with anxiety, and incapability of enduring the approach of any person.─Irregular intermittent stools, often only every two days.─Soft, loose, clear-brown stools.─After the stool, pressure in the abdomen.─Flowing of blood with the stool.─Haemorrhoidal excrescences in the anus.─Itching and tingling in the anus and in the rectum.─Itching, smarting, and stinging at the anus.

14. Urinary Organs.─In the morning, after getting up, an urgent desire to make water.─Increased secretion of urine, chiefly at night and in the morning.─Increased secretion of urine, much more than the amount of the fluid drunk.─Urine of a yellowish-brown, and turbid, with brown sediment.─Reddish cloud in the urine.─Urine tinged with blood.─Acid smell from the urine.─Burning in the orifice of the urethra.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Voluptuous excitement of, and itching in, the genital parts, without external cause.─Burning in the region of the spermatic vesicles.─Erections in the morning, with numbness of the genital parts.─Sore rawness between thighs.─Violent erections in the morning, without sexual desire, with numbness of the parts.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Menses too early; and too profuse.─Discharge of blood between the periods.─During menstruation, increased swelling of varicose veins, with pressure in the legs.─Leucorrhoea thick, slimy, preceded by shooting pains in the vagina.─Running of white-bluish matter from the vagina.─The leucorrhoea more abundant at night.─Burning, pain of excoriation, and itching, in the sexual parts.─Violent itching, with swelling of the external parts.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Cough, with coryza, and expectoration of a whitish and salt mucus.─Nocturnal cough, excited by excessive tickling in the gullet, cough in the evening, with pain in the l. side, as if something were torn away.─Spasmodic cough from tickling in the throat with expectoration of yellowish, or greyish-white mucus, tasting salt or sour, in the morning; with expectoration in the evening.─Convulsive cough, with eructations and hoarseness.─On coughing, pressive headache in the temples.─Voice hoarse, harsh, with an accumulation of thick mucus in the air ducts.─Hoarseness and roughness of the voice, with accumulation of thick, tough mucus, easily thrown off by coughing.─Cough < by music.

18. Chest.─Breathing short.─Oppression in breathing.─Oppression felt in the chest, and between the scapulae.─Breath fetid in the morning after waking.─Wheezing in the chest.─Painful oppression in the chest and in the back.─Pressure in the chest, chiefly in the region of the heart.─Sensation of rawness in the chest.─Itching in the chest, and in the thyroid gland.─Asthma of old people, and of children.─At night, trembling in the breast.─Palpitation of the heart, frequently when walking in the open air, with paleness of face, and pressure in the chest as if a lump were lodged there or as if the chest were obstructed.─Rheumatic pain, as from a bruise in the chest.

20. Neck and Back.─Pressive drawing pain in the nape of the neck, and in the back.─Shooting pain in the loins.─Stiffness in the loins after sitting long.─Heaviness in the back, with pain in the belly, as if the intestines were compressed.

22. Upper Limbs.─The arms become easily numbed, whether they are leant upon or used to carry something, or even in the night, with sensation of torpor.─Paralytic drawing, as from dislocation, in the shoulder-joints, in the elbows, in the fore part of the arms, and in the hands.─Trembling of the arms.─Pain in the bone of the elbow when touched.─Cramp in the hands on taking hold of anything.─Prolonged coldness of the hands.─Contraction of the fingers.─In the evening, attack of trembling in the thumb.─In the morning, the skin at the extremity of the fingers is wrinkled.─Nocturnal weakness of the fingers.─Itchy tetter between the fingers.─Itching in the palms of the hands.

23. Lower Limbs.─Sensation of torpor in the legs, with an unsteady walk.─Sensation of contraction in the (r) thigh, the limb seems to be shortened.─Nervousness of the legs.─Heaviness, stiffness, and weakness of the legs.─Cramps in the legs, and at night in the calves of the legs.─Acute drawing pain in the legs, from the os sacrum to the feet, with incapability of supporting the foot on the ground: the affected leg seems shorter than the other.─Excoriation in the hams, with pain, principally in the evening.─Tingling in the calves of the legs and in the feet.─Arthritic pains in the joints of the feet and in the great toes.─Tightness in the joints of the feet.─Pain, as of ulceration, in the soles of the feet when walking.─Burning in the soles of the feet.─Itching of the inside of the soles of the feet.─Swelling of the feet.─Shooting pains in chilblains on the toes.─Pain, as of excoriation, in the corns.

24. Generalities.─Infantile or other spasms.─Cramps and sensation of drawing in the muscles.─Tearing pains, chiefly in the joints, and often on one side only (from the small of the back through the r. leg).─Spasms and twitches in the muscular parts.─Susceptibility to numbness in various parts.─Many of the symptoms appear during sleep, and diminish after rising.─Many of the pains are mitigated by walking in the open air, or when lying on the part affected.─In the evening, and in a warm temperature, many of the symptoms are aggravated.─Sensation of drawing throughout the body.─Incisive pain in the hands and feet.─Inflation and pulsation over the whole body, with great weakness after walking in the open air.─Ebullitions and pulsations in the whole body, esp. after walking in the open air.─After having talked much, agitation and trembling all over the body, with restlessness.─Fatigue, esp. in the morning, in bed, and at night on waking.─Sensation of numbness and of torpor over the whole surface of the body, chiefly in the morning.

25. Skin.─Dry, itching burning.─Burning herpes.─Suppressed eruptions.─Itching, and sensation of burning in several parts of the skin, as from the itch.─Tetters and itchy eruptions appear during the use of this medicine.─Dryness of the skin.─Burning tetters.

26. Sleep.─Inclination to sleep during the day.─Restlessness at night.─Worriment from business embarrassments.─Agitated sleep, in consequence of cold in the body, and a sensation of drawing in the limbs.─Sleep, with anxious dreams and reveries.─On sleeping, startings with fright.

27. Fever.─Pulse accelerated with ebullitions.─Chill in the forenoon, with weakness and sleepiness, better after eating.─Flushes of heat, returning every fifteen minutes, worse towards evening.─Feverish shivering in different parts, followed by heat in the face.─Transient heat, sometimes with anxiety at the heart.─Perspiration from slight exertion, esp. on the abdomen and on the thighs.─Nocturnal sweat, particularly on the diseased side, after midnight.

Keynotes and Characteristics with Comparisons of Some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica (Allen's Keynotes), Henry Clay Allen

Ambergris (A Nosode)

For children, especially young girls who are excitable, nervous and weak; nervous affections of old people, nerves "worn out.". Lean, thin, emaciated persons who take cold easily. Great sadness, sits for days, weeping. After business embarrassments, unable to sleep, must get up (Act., Sep.). Ranula with fetid breath (Thuja). Sensation of coldness in abdomen (Cal.). The presence of others, even the nurse, is unbearable during stool; frequent, ineffectual desire, which makes her anxious. Discharge of blood between periods, at every little accident - a long walk, after very hard stool, etc. Leucorrhoea; thick, bluish-white mucus, especially or only at night (Caust., Mer., Nit. ac.). Violent cough in spasmodic paroxysyms, with eructations and hoarseness; worse talking or reading aloud (Dros., Phos.); evening without, morning with expectoration (Hyos.); whooping cough, but without crowing inspiration.

Relationship. - Similar: to, Act., Asaf., Coca, Ign., Mosch., Phos., Val.

Aggravation. - Warm drinks, warm room; music; lying down; reading or talking aloud; the presence of many people; after waking.

Amelioration. - After eating; cold air; cold food and drinks; rising form bed.

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Eugene Beauharnais Nash

Here are five so-called hysterical remedies. They have many nervous symptoms that are similar, and I will only give a few characteristic symptoms of each and leave their study to those who love to study.

These five remedies should be studied together.

Moschus. "Hysterical spasms of the chest, nervous suffocative constrictions, especially on becoming cold." Palpitation (hysteric) with dyspnoea, prostration, fainting, exclaiming, "I shall die! I shall die!" etc., greatly excited. Laughs immoderately, or cries or scolds until her lips turn blue, eyes stare and she falls down fainting or unconscious.

Castoreum. "Exhausted pains better from pressure, menstrual colic, with pallor and cold sweat."

Asafoetida. Enormous accumulation of flatulence all pressing upward; ball rising in throat.

Great suffering, especially hysterical, from suppression of discharges. Discharges foetid.

Great sensitiveness to contact; in ulcers, especially periosteal.

"Full of wind; flatulence with eructations all pressing upward, but none downward. Seems as if she would burst with the upward pressure, reverse peristalsis." "Especially useful if its nervous symptoms come on after the suppression of leucorrhoeal or other habitual discharges." All discharges offensive, even of ulcers, and great sensitiveness to contact or touch. Osteitis or caries with this same exceeding sensitiveness to contact (Hepar).

Valerian. General nervous irritation, cannot keep still, tearing pains and cramps in different places. Feels as if floating in the air (Sticta pulm. as if legs were floating in the air). Over-sensitiveness of all the senses. Sensation as of a thread hanging down throat. With this remedy I once cured a severe case of sciatica in a pregnant woman on the symptom, pain worse when standing and letting the foot rest on the floor. She could stand with that foot resting on a chair, or could lie down in comfort.

Ambra grisea. Convulsive cough, with frequent eructations of gas.

Discharge of blood between the periods; after a hard stool; or walk.

Very nervous women, cannot void stool or urinate when others are in the room.

Discharge of blood between periods; any little exertion or straining at stool causes it. Nervous cough followed by eructations of wind. It is particularly adapted to nervous affections of old people and spare subjects nervously "worn out".