Homeopathic Materia Medica

Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, James Tyler Kent

Generalities: This is one of our deep acting constitutional remedies and one much neglected. It was much used by the earlier men in our school with great effect. In mental weakness, insanity, enlarged glands and sexual excitement we have a group of symptoms hard to cure without Baryta muriatica.

Add to this profound increasing muscular weakness and we must have this remedy sometime during the case or the cure will be slow.

Its complaints are prominent in the morning, forenoon, afternoon, evening, night and after midnight. In the diseases most amenable to this remedy are the affection of the lymphatic glands and other glands.

The patient desires the open air, yet the open air often increases the symptoms. Many cases of aneurysm have been benefited by it.

Modalities: General physical anxiety is a strong feature. Complaints are worse ascending stairs such as dyspnoea, palpitation and weakness. Dread of bathing, like Sulphur.

The symptoms are often worse in cold air and from becoming cold. The convulsive tendency is a very important feature; convulsions with headache, deafness, vomiting and burning in the stomach; convulsions with full consciousness with electric shocks; clonic spasms. It has cured most stubborn cases of epilepsy.

Distension of the blood vessels; emaciation, fainting spells. Complaints worse in fall and spring. Formication all over the body. Sensation of internal fullness. Bleeding from mucous membranes and from ulcers.

Heaviness externally and internally as from weakness and relaxation. Induration of glands; inflammation and swelling of glands. Extreme lassitude, compelled to lie down. Symptoms come before and during menses.

Some symptoms are better from motion; bruised feeling internally; burping in many parts; cutting pains in internal parts; digging pains are not uncommon; gnawing in external parts.

Pains and sensations: Painless symptoms predominant and pain is the exception. Convulsive jerking in the limbs; stitching in glands and along nerves; downward tearing as if in the muscles; one-sided paralysis; left side. Many parts are tender to pressure.

Pulsation in abdomen and limbs. Pulse fast, 120 full, hard, small. Rising up brings on many symptoms. Electric shocks with convulsions. Complaints left-sided-worse while sitting; must lie down. Symptoms come on during sleep-worse while standing.

Painful swelling of glands. Dropsical swelling after scarlet fever; tension, trembling, twitching; weakness in whole body, can hardly move a limb; while walking; general muscular weakness; paralytic weakness; weariness.

Complaints and symptoms grow worse in wet weather. It is the natural complement of Conium in glandular affections and it is very similar, but much deeper acting.

Mind: Easily angered. Anxiety in the evening; about the future; with nausea; retching and pressure in the stomach. It is useful ill children who are slow to learn or understand; children do not desire to play like other children.

Concentration impossible. The locality around him seems strange, transformed; timid and cowardly; delusion that he walks on his knees. Dullness of mind.

Thinks she is going to die. Fear: of evil, of men; foolish behavior; idiocy; imbecility, indifference, insanity; erotic insanity.

Insanity where the sexual excitement becomes strong. Irresolution. Irritable in the evening. Mania in every form when sexual desire is increased; nymphomania. Sadness in the morning; sits in silence.

Children sit in the corner and give confused answers. Easily startled; suspicious; indisposed to talk; talks in sleep; unconsciousness; fainting; vertigo when walking; things turn around.

The scalp feels constricted. It is a remedy of great usefulness in eruptions of the scalp. Thick, offensive crusts; eczema of the whole top of the head, extending to sides and occiput; suppurating with copious pus. Crops of pimples.

Head: The head feels so heavy he cannot keep up; heaviness of forehead and occiput; sensation of looseness of the brain; a feeling of movement in the head.

Pain in the head in the morning on rising; afternoon, evening, worse in open air; from binding up the hair; after eating, while lying; on moving the eyes; from noise; from pressure; on stopping; while walking; in the forehead, occiput; sides of head, temples; boring in temples; bruises in head; burning in head; pressing in head and in forehead; outwards; stitching in forehead, occiput, sides of head, in temples; stunning pain in head; tearing in occiput, sides of head; shocks in head, ulcers on scalp.

Eyes: Agglutination of the lids in the morning; discharge of mucus and pus from the eyes; inflammation of the eyes in scrofulous patients. Itching and smarting, pressing pain in eyes; paralysis of upper lids; photophobia; pupils dilated and immovable.

Redness of the eyes; of the lids; veins injected; stiffness of the eyes; ulceration of the cornea; swollen lids; complaints of the eyes and head from exertion of vision, much like Conium; dim vision with flickering.

Ears: Abscesses behind both ears; discharge from both ears; copious offensive; like spoiled cheese; purulent; after scarlet fever.

Eruptions on ears; recurrent inflammation of the ear; auditory canal itching in the ear; noises in the ear on chewing and on swallowing catarrh of the Eustachian tube; buzzing, ringing and roaring; pain in both ears; deep in; worse in the right ear; pain in the ear with sore throat; worse lying on the painful side; better from cold drinks; drawing, stitching, tearing pain in ear tearing behind ear; pulsation in ear; tingling of the ears; twitching hearing impaired, finally lost.

Nose: Catarrh of the nose with copious thick, yellow discharge; coryza fluent with fever; dryness in the nose; epistaxis.

Itching in the nose; the nose is obstructed; rawness in the nose. A red nodule on the side of the top of the nose; stitching pains in the nose. Frequent sneezing; sneezing in sleep without waking.

Face: The face is red with fever, otherwise pale.

Drawing and spasms of the face. Dryness of the lips. Enlarged and indurated submaxillary gland with otorrhoea; eruption on forehead and nose; crusty, pimples, expression is anxious and the face is hot.

Inflammation of the right parotid gland after scarlet fever swelling of the glands of neck and jaw; very hard; right parotid submaxillary. Tension of the face with nausea and diarrhoea.

Mouth: Bleeding gums. Cracked tongue; white tongue.

Dryness of the mouth in the morning, of the tongue; coated tongue; viscid mucus fills the mouth and covers the tongue; odor from mouth offensive; putrid; like from mercury. Burning in the mouth; the gums are sore.

Paralysis of the tongue. Salivation with every paroxysm. Speech difficult. Swollen gums and palate. Taste is bitter; putrid, sour, sweetish; food tastes putrid.

Ulceration of tongue. Looseness of the teeth with salivation; pulsating pain in the teeth. Compelled to sit up in bed; worse after midnight and after sleep; jerking; stitching, tearing.

Throat: Inflammation of the throat and tonsils; recurrent tonsillitis from taking cold; dryness in throat. Enlarged tonsils elongation of the uvula with sore throat; viscid mucus in the throat pain in the throat and ear, worse on right side; with salivation; worse on swallowing; burning in the throat.

Suppuration of the tonsils. Swallowing very difficult. Swollen tonsils. Varicose veins in the throat. Swelling and induration of the cervical glands.

Appetite and stomach: Appetite ravenous; wanting; aversion to food. Desires dry wheat bread. Distension of the stomach. A feeling of emptiness in the stomach. Eructations after eating; bitter; water.

Flushes of heat rise from the stomach to the head. Fullness and weight in the stomach after solid food; heartburn, hiccough.

He can eat only the simplest food, as digestion is slow and the stomach is feeble; inflammation of the stomach; loathing of food; nausea.

Pain in the stomach; cramping; pressing after eating; sore; stitching. Retching. Tension. Thirst with dry tongue; during chill; extreme. Vomiting in the morning; with headache; incessant, bile, blood, mucus, watery, with purging and great anxiety.

Abdomen: Distension of the abdomen. Enlarged and bard liver and mesenteric glands. Flatulence; fullness; hard abdomen.

Pain in abdomen in the morning, after eating, before stool, in hypochondria, burning, cramping, cutting, stitching in hypochondria and inguinal region.

It has been of great benefit in abdominal aneurisms. Swollen liver; swollen inguinal glands after suppressed gonorrhoea. Abdominal tension. Ulcers in the inguinal region.

Stools: Constipation; difficult stool; no desire for stool; stool hard and covered with mucus; generally painless, diarrhoea which is also generally painless.

Dysentery, bloody mucus; jelly-like stools; frequent; generally painless. Much offensive flatus. Haemorrhage from rectum and from intestines.

External piles, protrude during urination; itching of the anus; involuntary stool; moisture about the anus; some pain in the rectum during stool burning during and after stool; pressing pain; soreness, stitching tenesmus.

Paralysis of the rectum and of the sphincter ani. Stool bloody, jelly-like, hard, green, foetid, soft, thin, watery, white and hard; yellow and slimy; worms with stool.

Bladder: Inflammation of the bladder. Retention of urine. Urging to urination; constant, frequent, ineffectual, violent.

Urination difficult; frequent at night; frequent during perspiration; involuntary during the night. Gleety urethral discharge. It has cured chronic gonorrhoea.

Pain in the urethra during urination. The urine is hot, copious, offensive, with whitish sediment; watery, yellow, with great stench.

Enlarged testes. Induration of testes Inflammation of testes from suppressed gonorrhoea; seminal emission sexual passion greatly increased, even violent.

Females: Induration of the ovaries. Leucorrhoea. Menses copious, too often, painful. Pain in the uterus. Sterility.

Larynx and trachea: Catarrh of the larynx and trachea; irritation in larynx and trachea; tickling in the larynx.

Voice is hoarse, husky and weak.

Respiration is fact, anxious, asthmatic, deep, difficult, with cough, and she must sit up; rattling, short.

Cough in daytime, morning, evening, night, before midnight; asthmatic, dry, chronic dry cough of scrofulous children; front irritation in larynx and trachea; rattling, whooping cough.

Expectoration in the morning; mucous; copious; muco-purulent expectoration from bronchial tubes; yellow.

It has cured phtisical conditions of the chest with herpetic eruptions and indurated testes.

Marked palpitation. It has been a very useful remedy in spinal curvature.

Upper and lower limbs: Cold hands and feet; cramps in the toes; drawing up the limbs ameliorates.

Eruptions on the limbs; pimples. Hot hands. Heaviness of the whole body, must lie down. Itching of the limbs; the thighs. Painless jerking of the arms at night.

Violent, periodical jerking of the limbs with convulsions. Lassitude; numbness of the fingers. Pain in the upper limbs and thighs. Paralysis of the left side; paralysis of the lower limbs. Perspiration of the feet; suppressed foot sweat.

Pulsation of the shoulder. Swelling of the hands, lower limbs, knees, feet. Tension in knees. Trembling of the limbs. Twitching of the upper limbs, thighs, feet. Ulcers on the legs. Weakness of the limbs.

Dreams: amorous, anxious, frightful, of misfortune, pleasant, vivid.

Restless sleep; sleepiness; afternoon, evening, after dinner; sleepless before midnight; frequent waking.

Coldness in the morning; evening; in bed; chilliness; external chill; shaking chills every third day.

Fever in the evening and during the night; burning heat; heat with chilliness; dry heat all day; dry heat during the night.

Skin: Dryness, biting and burning in skin; cold skin; eruptions; eczema herpes all over body; pimples; scabs, yellow scales; stinging, urticaria; erysipelas, formication, horripilation.

Inflammation of skin. Itching. Swelling and tension. Whole body covered with small ulcers. Unhealthy skin. Burning ulcers.

A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke

Chloride of Barium. Ba Cl2 2H2O.

Clinical.─Aneurism. Anus, abscess of. Asthma. Convulsions. Deafness. Dyspepsia. Fistula. Glandular swellings. Gleet. Gonorrhoea. Idiocy. Leucorrhoea. Mania. Mumps. Nymphomania. Otorrhoea. Pancreatitis. Paralysis. Scrofula. Sterility. Testicles, affections of. Tinea capitis. Tinnitus. Tonsillitis. Tumours.

Characteristics.─The symptoms of Baryta mur. are like those of the other Barium salts, but it has a distinct character of its own. Convulsions are more marked in the muriate. Periodical attacks of convulsions, with excessive jactitation of the limbs. Idiocy. Mania, with increase of sexual desire; "in every form of mania as soon as the sexual desire is increased." Offensive otorrhoea. Parotid glands hard and swollen (especially right). It has cured whizzing and buzzing in ears; noises on chewing and swallowing. Deafness. Great salivation and odour from mouth as from mercurialisation. Swelling of salivary glands. Disposition to tonsillitis. There is great indigestion. Below stomach to left a hardness from which paroxysms of dyspnoea come. Induration of pancreas. Distressing throbbing in abdomen (abdominal aneurism). Many cases of aneurism have been benefited by Bar. mur. Both elements have a strong action on heart and arteries. In one poisoning case, that of a girl, the instant she swallowed the solution she exclaimed that she was on fire; vomitings, convulsions, pain in the head and complete deafness supervened; and death within an hour. Baryt. mur. acts on parotid glands and pancreas. Is suited to scrofulous children. Attacks of tonsillitis occurring in spring and autumn. The earache is > by sipping cold water.

Relations.─Compare: Con. (indurations of abdominal glands); Iod., Kali iod. and Iris (pancreas); Selen. (pulsations in abdomen). Useful after Ars. in extravasations of blood. The vomiting is antidoted by Absinthe.

SYMPTOMS.

1. Mind.─Great anxiety, with gastralgia, nausea, and retching; has to bend double.─Idiocy.─Mania of every form as soon as sexual desire is increased.

2. Head.─Vertigo, swimming before the eyes; things turn round.─Head confused and heavy.─Cephalalgia, with vomitings.─Very purulent eruptions on the scalp.─Scabby eruptions on the head and on the neck.─Eruption at the nape of the neck.

3. Eyes.─Eyes fixed and immovable.─Shuns light; child lies all the time on its face.─Pupils dilated and insensible, with fixed look.─Blennorrhoea of the eyes, of the ears, and of the nose.

4. Ears.─Deafness and vomiting.─Otorrhoea; odour like rotten cheese.─Abscesses behind ears.─Parotids (esp. r.) swollen.

5. Nose.─Sneezing in sleep.─Coryza.

6. Face.─Tractive pains in the muscles of the face.─Painful nodosity at the point of the nose, with slight pricking.

7. Teeth.─Shooting, throbbing pains in the teeth, esp. on waking, after midnight.─Looseness of the teeth.

8. Mouth.─Swelling of the salivary glands and of the palate.─Tongue loaded.─Tongue and mouth dry.─Fetor of the mouth, as if from mercury.─Putrid taste in the mouth, also of food.

9. Throat.─Uvula elongated.─Varicose veins of throat.─Suppuration of tonsils after every cold.─Swallowing difficult.

11. Stomach.─Loss of appetite.─Thirst.─Inclination to vomit.─Retching.─Vomiting in the morning, with anxiety.─Vomiting of a small quantity of water, with nausea.─Sickness.─Pressure on the stomach, with spasm.─Sensation of heat, ascending from the stomach to the chest and head.─Burning pain in the stomach, with vomiting.─The membranes of the stomach are of a blue red, with red spots on the muscular part.─The pit of the stomach is inflamed, with isolated ecchymoses.─Uneasiness, as if from worms.

12. Abdomen.─Burning pains in the abdomen.─Tumefaction of the liver.─Throbbing of tumour in abdomen.─Inguinal glands swollen; painful; ulcerating.

13. Stool and Anus.─Faeces slimy.─Easy evacuation.─Chronic, painless diarrhoea, or diarrhoea with violent colic.─Stools jelly-like, with blood, no pain; discharges every fifteen or twenty minutes.─Stools white, hard as stones.

14. Urinary Organs.─Urine frequent, involuntary, and painful.─Urine yellowish, very offensive.─Flow of urine.─Whitish sediment in the urine.

15. Male Sexual Organs.─Frequent emission of semen.─Swelling of the testes.─Buboes after suppressed gonorrhoea.

16. Female Sexual Organs.─Catamenia too early.─Pains, as from a bruise, in the cavity of the pelvis.─Sterility.─Leucorrhoea.─Induration, tumour or atrophy of ovaries.─Nymphomania.

17. Respiratory Organs.─Weak voice.─Dry cough.─Chronic cough of scrofulous children.

18. Chest.─Catarrh, with heat.─Heat in the upper part of the chest.─Oppression.

19. Heart.─Throbbing of the heart accelerated.─Palpitation of the heart.─Heart-beats irregular, pulse scarcely perceptible.

20. Neck and Back.─Enlargement and induration of cervical glands.─Pains in the back.

21. Limbs.─Trembling of limbs.─Convulsive jerkings of hands and feet.─Paralysis of upper and lower limbs.─Swelling of hands and feet.

22. Upper Limbs.─Painless twitching in arm esp. at night.

23. Lower Limbs.─Drawing pains in thighs.─Haemorrhagic extravasations in knee-joint.─Feet swollen.─Effects of checked foot-sweat.

24. Generalities.─Great weakness, which necessitates lying down.─Weakness and prostration, amounting almost to paralysis.─Syncope.─Stiffness and insensibility of the body, with periodical convulsions.─General heaviness.─Trembling of the limbs.─Convulsive trembling.─Twitching in the face or in some of the limbs, or in the whole body.─Periodical convulsive fits, with starting and excessive tossing about.

25. Skin.─Pricking in the skin.─Burning and pricking in excoriated places.─Small itchy eruptions on the head, nape of the neck, abdomen, and thighs.─Glands inflamed and ulcerated.─Haemorrhage.

27. Fever.─General dry heat, night and day.─Redness and heat of the face.─Pulse frequent and full.─Tertian fever.─Increased perspiration.─Cold sweat.