Chamomilla Matricaria

[CHAMOMILE FLOWER. NATURAL ORDER, SYNANTHEREtE. J

The name of this flower is derived from the Greek chamai (low), and from the Latin word matrix (womb). It acts principally upon the biliary system and upon the uterine apparatus. This drug seems particularly suitable to children, to whom it is given, in Germany ab least, without rhyme or reason.

Five members of the Vienna Provers* Union took the extract of chamomilla in doses of from two to twenty-four grains daily, beginning with two grains and in- creasing by two grains every day, until the number of grains amounted to twenty- four. Most of the provers experienced the following symptoms : Bitter, aromatic taste, eructations, oppression of the stomach, nausea, loathing, desire to vomit, pinching in the bowels, diminished appetite, costiveness, flatulence, yawning, hic- cough, coated tongue, accelerated pulse, palpitation of the heart, increased feeling of warmth, thirst, dullness of the head, rush of blood to the head, headache, languor irritable temper, restless sleep.

Dr. Schneller took one hundred and fifty-six grains of the extract of chamomilla in twelve days, in the month of September, 1844.

Not till he took from eight to fourteen grains at a dose, did he experience the following symptoms : Nauseous taste ; slight palpitation of the heart soon after taking the drug ; in the evening, evanescent stitches in the region of the fifth rib, on

CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA. G81

the right side in front, lasting a short time and worse during a deep inspiration. After taking twelve grains he felt slight stitches in the precordial region, decrease of appe- tite, warmth and dullness about the head. After taking from sixteen to twenty grains, these symptoms were overshadowed by the symptoms of disturbed digestion, such as: oppression of the stomach, emission of flatulence upward and downward; yellowish coating of the tongue ; diminished appetite; accelerated pulse ; increase of warmth throughout the body ; gloomy, irritable disposition.

The last two doses of twenty-two and twenty-four grains, respectively, again caused : shooting stitches in the precordial region, the stitches darting at times toward the right, at others toward the left side, down the lower extremities, as far as the dorsum of the foot and the tarsal joint, then shifting upward to the right shoulder or hip, or to the left half of the head like a stitching or drawing pain. The symptoms of digestive derangement increased ; loathing, retention of stool, palpitation of the heart, accelerated pulse and irritable disposition.

These symptoms continued even a few days after he had discontinued taking the drug.

According to Schneller, these symptoms seem to show " that cha- niomilla affects primarily the nervous system. The symptoms of gastric derangement show that it affects the pneumogastric nerve ; the pain in the region of the shoulder points to the sentient branches of the axillary plexus as its chief focus of action ; the pain in the hip and down the tibia seems to show that the sciatic and tibial nerves are irritated by this drug. The frontal nerve likewise is involved in the present group of symptoms."

The increased action of the heart might be accounted for upon the ground of sympathetic irritation ; but we shall presently see that chamomilla irritates the pneumo-gastric nerve in its whole extent, not only the gastric, but also the pulmonary branch, causing con- striction of the lungs, soreness, tearing and stitching pains in the lungs, oppression and a violent, racking cough. The cardiac branch of the pneumo-gastric nerve does not escape the depressing action of chamomile, against which the heart reacts by increased palpitation.

It is doubtful whether, in a case where chamomilla is indicated, these symptoms ever exist separately from bilious derangement. The sensation of increased warmth which accompanies these symp- toms, the acceleration of the pulse, the flushes and heat of the face and head, seem to depend upon a disturbed condition of the secretory organs of the biliary apparatus, and it does not seem improbable that the general constitutional symptoms, pains and congestions which chamomilla is capable of exciting, depend, to some extent at least, upon a derangement of the biliary secretions.

CEPHALIC GROUP.

RHEUMATIC HEMICRANIA — According to Schoenlein, chain-

683 CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA.

omile causes a pecuti&» form of rheumatalgia, resembling rheumatic cephalalgia; hence we may use it for rheumatic hemicrania with tearing, dragging, maddening pains, for these pains characterize the action of chamomilla. We may also employ it in

BILIOUS HEADACHES when the pain is an oppressive, stupe- fying, .stitching, burning distress, with vomiting of bile, sallow com- plexion, heavy load and anxiety in the pit of the stomach.

NERVOUS HEADACHES, with violent throbbing in one side of the head, flashes of heat, irritable mood, stinging pains as though the eyes would fall out, the brain feels sore as if bruised.

NERVOUS GROUP.

CONVULSIONS. — Chamomilla has been used with success as a remedy for convulsions, more particularly in the convulsions of children, when arising from teething, anger, pain in the bowels. It is only in sympathetic convulsions of this character that chamomilla is of any use. In

NEURALGIC AFFECTIONS, when the pains are of a tearing, dragging and lancing character, chamomilla may likewise be of great service. These pains may be excited by rheumatic exposure. The sensibility of the affected part is generally altered. Hahnemann remarks that the chamomilla pains are very frequently characterized by a sense of numbness, more especially, however, after the violence of the pain begins to subside.

In ischias nervosa these pains may be present. The sciatic nerve is not unfrequently subject to this kind of suffering.

ORBITAL GROUP.

Chamomilla affects the sense of vision sympathetically rather than by its direct action upon the organ of vision. It causes : sensation of fire and heat flashing out of the eyes. Luminous vibrations be- fore the eyes. Obscuration of sight. A ray of light is seen from the candle to the eye.

If these symptoms occur as natural conditions, we shall most probably find them depending upon biliary derangements which like- wise require chamomile as their specific remedy.

HAEMORRHAGE. — Chamomile has been used in haemorrhage from the eyes of little children in consequence of violent crying (weeping) ;

BLEPHAROSPASMS, twitching or spasms of the eyelids, if accompanied by the previously-mentioned symptoms of irritation of; the retina;

CHAMOMILE A MATRICARIA. 683"

CATARRHAL CONJUNCTIVITIS of new-born children, with photophobia, redness, agglutination of the lids, irritable temper.

AUDITORY GROUP.

OTALGIA. — Chamomilla causes dragging and tearing pains in the ears, and may therefore be recommended for otalgia, where these pains prevail, with buzzing and ringing in the ears, especially in the case of scrofulous children.

FACIAL GKOUP.

Chamomilla causes a scurfy ulceration of the lips ; cracks in the middle of the lower lip ; ulceration of the lower nostrils.

These symptoms may occur in the case of scrofulous children, in consequence of a cold, teething, etc. We may designate this condi- tion as a form of coryza and rhagades, of a catarrhal, ulcerous nature.

DENTAL GROUP.

TOOTHACHE. — Chamomilla causes, and will therefore cure, a rheumatic toothache, the pain being tearing, stitching and boring, with swelling of the cheeks ; the teeth feel as if elongated ; the pain is much worse at night, which is characteristic of the pains caused by chamomile. It also causes toothache as if the nerve were scraped.

DIFFICULT DENTITION— We employ chamomile as an excel- lent remedy in difficult dentition, when one of the cheeks is red and hot, the gums are swollen, very sensitive, the child very irritable and threatened with convulsions.

CHYLO-POIETIC GROUP.

Chamomilla affects the taste, appetite, the character of the gastric secretion, develops a variety of pains, and alters the color, smell and consistence of the alvine secretions. Among these signs of abnormal action we may enumerate more particularly the following symptoms: Foul, bitter, slimy, sour taste. Loss of appetite ; empty eructations and regurgitation of food. Nausea after eating; nausea with con- fluence of saliva.

Sour vomiting. Distressing nausea with sense of fulness of the abdomen, followed by vomiting. Flatulent distention after eating. Tensive pain under the ribs, with tension in the head and dry catarrh of the chest.

Cutting-burning pains from the stomach to the umbilicus, with shortness of breath and pale face.

The marked alterations of the taste caused by chamomilla may occur in bilious fever, in bilious attacks caused by anger or exposure ;. in various forms of

684 CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA.

DYSPEPSIA and gastralgia; a sensation of agonizing pressure in the epigastric region, with sudden stitches flashing through this region, hard and burning distress, sallow complexion, yellow coating on the tongue, dry and foul taste in the mouth, nausea and perhaps vomiting of bile characterize this condition, if chamomilla is homoe- opathic to it.

INGUINAL HERNIA.— The sensation as if the bowels would press through the inguinal rings may lead us to use chamomilla in the inguinal hernia of children, more especially if it is caused by violent and incessant crying and fretting.

CONGESTION OF THE LIVER.— Subacute congestion of the liver may be benefited, by chamomilla if a fit of anger is the cause of it. The region of the liver is bloated, very sensitive to pressure, the children are feverish, cry and fret a good deal, the bowels are con- stipated and they have great difficulty in passing urine. Although chamomilla is very commonly administered for this affection, we pre- fer aconite, especially if the trouble arises from rheumatic exposure, as it generally does.

COLIC. — In flatulent and bilious colic chamomilla is a great rem- edy, if the pain is a spasmodic, pinching and twisting pain, the patient looks sallow, the bowels are distended, feel excessively sore, and are constipated ; the patient complains of nausea, retching, foul taste and yellow-coated tongue.

DIARRHOEA. — Chamomilla is eminently useful in the diarrhoea of children when resulting from a cold or from teething, be it catarrhal or bilious, when the discharges are preceded by pinching or cutting pains in the bowels, watery, slimy, green or yellow, hav- ing a foul smell and excoriating the anus. In the bilious diarrhoea of children, when the discharges have a sour smell, chamomilla is excellent. In

CONSTIPATION this agent may prove useful if the accompany- ing symptoms indicate its use. The bowels are distended, the mouth is sticky, dry, with foul taste and bilious coating on the tongue. The constipation may have been preceded by bilious diarrhoea, or it may be symptomatic of bilious fever.

URINARY GROUP.

Chamomilla causes emission of urine with anxiety; involuntary emission of urine ; stinging pains in the neck of the bladder between the acts of urinating ; burning at the neck of the bladder.

These symptoms may be present as component parts of a group

CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA. 68§

denoting bilious derangement. Involuntary emission of urine is very apt to occur in the case of children who are troubled with irritation at the anus or in the rectum, and who are subject to sudden and uncontrollable urgings to urinate. These involuntary discharges generally take place at night, during sleep; we designate them tech- nically as

ENURESIS NOCTURIA, the urine looking straw-colored, watery.

DYSURIA. — If children fret previous to the act of urinating, if they seem uneasy and anxious, affected with a species of disuria, we may find chamomilla very useful.

SEXUAL GROUP.

The action of chamomilla upon the sexual organs of the male is not characterized by any very marked symptoms.

NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS.— Chamomilla seems to excite the sexual instinct. In a case of noctui . A emissions, with sexual excite- ment, frequent desire to urinate, this ag^nt may prove of service.

Its action upon the female sexual system is much more marked. In this direction we may note the following symptoms which we find recorded among our provings :

Pressing toward the uterus like labor-pains, with frequent urging to urinate. Labor-pains with discharge of black coagula, tearing pains in the veins of the legs. Griping pains in the uterus, with dis- charge of coagula. Suppression of the menses, with swelling at the pit of stomach and painful pressure in this region, dropsical disten- tion of the abdomen, labor-like pains. Cutting pains previous to the menses. Metrorrhagic discharge of blood.

AMENORRHCEA. — These physiological effects of chamomile lead us to use it in amenorrhoea, with swelling and pressure in the epigas- tric region, distention of the bowels, pressing toward the uterus, as if the menses would make their appearance. This suppression may bs consequent upon a fit of anger or it may result from a cold. In

DYSMENORRHCEA, with discharge of coagula, griping pains in the uterus preceding the expulsion of the coagula, sickness at the stomach or even vomiting and retching, chamomilla may be useful.

METRORRHAGIA. — This agent is even used with occasional ad- vantage in metrorrhagia, the blood looking dark and having a strong, offensive odor, with violent pressing pains in the hypogastric region.

A healthy, sensitive, pregnant woman of rigid fibre, took five

686 \ CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA.

drops of oleum cethereum chamonrilke. They caused confusion of mind, passing twitchings of the limbs, eyelids, etc. ; pains resembling labor-pains, but more troublesome and continuing for several days, and a sort of hysteric movement above the umbilicus, together with increased cramps in the calves.

LABOR-PAINS — This effect of chamomile upon the impregnated womb may suggest the use of this agent in spurious or spasmodic labor-pains which may occur during pregnancy, and are sometimes exceedingly annoying and exhausting ; they may be accompanied with cramp-pains in the calves, frequent urging to urinate. A very small dose should be given.

CRAMPS. — The cramps in the calves may suggest the use of chamomile as a means of relief in cramps from varicose veins and cramps in the calves, to which pregnant women are frequently subject.

CATARRHAL AND RESPIRATORY GROUPS.

-Ohamomilla affects the respiratory mucous lining in a variety of ways. Among the symptoms which constitute prominent indications in this direction, the following deserve special attention :

Cough with titillation, also with phlegm in the air-passages ; at night it becomes suffocative. Sudden stitches in the pit of the stomach, arresting the breathing. Constriction across the chest, soreness and cough ; sometimes the oppressive constriction affects the stomach like heartburn, and then shifts to the back and then terminates as a burning pain. Stitches darting from the abdomen to the chest, as if caused by flatulence.

CORYZA. — Guided by these symptoms we find chamomile useful in coryza, dry or fluent, with sore eyes, discharge of mucus from the nose and soreness of the nostrils.

CATARRHAL HOARSENESS, with a good deal of phlegm in the throat, tickling in the throat-pit, tendency to suffocative cough.

COUGH which comes in paroxysms, with suffocative constriction across the chest ; the cough is excited by tickling in the air-passages and deprives one of breath. These paroxysms of suffocative cough may occur after measles, during teething or during the first stage of whooping-cough. We would therefore commend chamomilla to your attention in the spasmodic stage of

WHOOPING-COUGH, or in any form of spasmodic cough of an epidemic nature, more particularly when it seems evident that the spasmodic stricture of the chest is owing to the irritating agency of bile, as evidenced by accompanying derangements of the biliary system.

CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA, ' 68)

FEVER GROUP.

The fever which chamomilla is capable of exciting is characterized by nightly exacerbations, chilliness increased by raising the cover ; partial sweats, redness of one cheek.

RHEUMATIC FEVERS. — These symptoms may occur in catar- rhal and rheumatic fevers, more particularly in the latter class, where rheumatic pains are present, such as : pressure in the ligaments and periosteum, resembling a drawing and tearing pain; laming pains with numbness of the parts, soreness of the joints, excessive weariness, nightly exacerbation of the pains. In

BILIOUS FEVERS chamomilla is indispensable, if the attack is brought on by a violent fit of anger; the symptoms constitute a bil- ious attack rather than a paroxysm or fever. Hahnemann sums them up as follows in a foot-note : heat in the face, unquenchable thirst, bilious taste in the mouth, sick stomach, anxiety, restlessness, etc. In

MILK-FEVER chamomilla may be useful, if the secretion of milk had been interfered with by a fit of anger or if the quantity of the milk had been altered bv a similar cause.

DENTITION. — In dentition fever chamomile may be useful if the children fret a good deal, are restless, one cheek is burning hot while the other is cold.

EXANTHEMATOUS GROUP.

Among the recorded provings of chamomile we may note the fol- lowing symptom : Hardness of the mammary glands. This symp- tom may indicate chamomile as a remedy for swelling, induration and ulceration of the nipples of infants ; and for hardness of the breasts, when caused by an exuberant secretion of milk in the case of lying-in women, and insufficient secretion of this fluid.

VARICOSE VEINS. — Another symptom of importance is the following : Labor-like pains, with frequent discharge of coagula, and tearing pains in the veins of the legs. This symptom suggests the use of chamomile, as has already been stated in a previous paragraph, for varicose veins, when the patient suffers a good deal with tearing, ■crampy pains in these vessels.

MILIARIA. — Chamomile has likewise been used with advantage in the rash of children which is apt to break out in the face, a species of miliaria, when accompanied by watery, greenish diarrhoea, -or appearing and disappearing in alternation with this derangement.

688 CHELIDONIl/iU MAJUS.

Aconite should not be lost sight of in this affection. , Purpura miliaris,. when the eruption is slow in coming out and the children feel anx- ious, toss about. Intertrigo infantum, cracking of the epidermis, inflammatory redness underneath, with oozing out of a yellowish serum. Ulcers, with burning and stinging pains ; they are very sen- sitive. Ulcers, secreting a bad pus, scrofulous, phagedenic, scorbutic.

Among the positive provings of chamomile there is one symptom which shows that this agent tends to develop an ulcerative process upon the skin. The record is as follows: The skin becomes un- healthy ; every injury develops a sore, an ulcer.