Ομοιοπαθητική ΒιβλιοθήκηKalmia Latifolia
Hempel - Materia Medica and Therapeutics · Charles Julius Hempel · 16,190 χαρακτήρες
General EN
[CALICO-BUSH, AMERICAN LAUREL, SPOONWOOD. NATURAL ORDER,
ERICACEAE.]
Leaves alternate and ternate, oval lanceolate, acute at each end, smooth and green on both sides ; corymbs terminal, viscidly pubes- cent. A profusely flowering shrub, sometimes attaining the height of a small tree. It is found in all the Atlantic states from Maine to Florida, and west to Ohio and Kentucky in woods. Wood crooked, fine-grained and compact.
The leaves are from two to three inches long, smooth and shining, acute at each end and entire. The flowers are in splendid corymbs, white or variously tinged with red, abundant. Ooralla with a sj>reading limb from nine to ten lines in diameter and a five-lobed margin. The leaves are narcotic and poisonous to some animals.
Blooms in May and June. (Wood.)
Kalmia latifolia, often called mountain-laurel, was brought to the notice of the profession by the venerable Dr. Hering, who made the first proving of the remedy, which can be found in the first volume of the Transactions of the American Institute of Homoeopathy. Dr. Buchner and others added much to the knowledge possessed ; our provings of the remedy are not full and our understanding of its sphere and mode of action is, as yet, limited.
Its action upon the vital force is evidenced in the modification of the heart's action, which in small doses it accelerates, in large doses it moderates, reducing it almost to a mininurn, producing at the same time spasm of the glottis, paleness of the face, obscure vision, coldness of the limbs, etc. The pulse is reduced to 35 or 40 beats. The action upon the vital forces is shown likewise by the pains, and still more by the excessive weariness, languor, lassitude in the limbs and especially in the lower extremities, a symptom which, unattended with any swelling' or evidence of inflammation, is quite characteristic of kalmia.
The action upon the organic substance is not so clearly shown in the proving. Yet so powerfully curative has kalmia proved in grave affections of the heart and kidney, that we cannot doubt its power to effect chauges in the tissues of the body. It pro-
KALMIA LAT IFOLIA. 2C1
duces an itching, erysipelatous eruption something like that of rhus, along with dangerous asthmatic symptoms. Also pimples and pustules in various parts of the body, which itch very much, and after being scratched, burn. The peculiarities of the action of kalmia display themselves in the coldness and imperfect reaction of the fever, in the very great reduction of the pulse from large doses, and in the very severe pains and great lassitude felt in the extrem- ities and particularly the lower.
The pains extend through an entire limb, as, for example, from shoulder down to the fingers, from the h}*pochondrium to the hip and from the hip to the head. These sensations indispose the prover to motion and exertion of any kind, and are greatly aggravated by moving." (Dunham's Lectures.)
Among the symptoms experienced by provers the following are prominent :
Mind EN
Anxious ; irritable ; unsettled.
Head EN
Confusion and pain, with- vertigo.
Great dizziness.
Dul- ness and aching in the head ; pain in the head on waking in the morning; pain in the forehead, over the eyes and nose; pain, shoot- ing, extending into the sides of the face and neck ; pain worse on motion and in the evening.
Eyes EN
Weakness of the eyes. Pain in the eyes, which makes it difficult to move them ; stitches ; redness ; dimness of vision with vertigo.
Eaks. — Stitches, buzzing and ringing in the ears.
Face EN
Paleness and itching of the face ; shooting pains in the jaws and teeth ; tearing in the right lower jaw.
Mouth And Throat EN
Toothache, coming from the forehead ; neuralgic pains in the teeth ; copious flow of saliva.
Bitter taste in the mouth.
Scraping in the throat.
Feeling of rawness in the throat.
Painful swallowing ; feeling as of a ball in the throat.
Stomach EN
Eructations, nausea, belching of wind ; vomiting.
Sensation of warmth in the stomach ; pressure in the epigastrium, relieved by sitting erect, worse when bent over, with the sensation as if something were being pressed under the epigastrium.
(This symptom should be remembered in connection with heart-disease.
Dr.
C.
Dunham.)
Urinary Organs EN
Increase of urine ; frequent voiding of yel- low urine.
Respiratory Organs
Tickling in the trachea.
Cough, excited
262 KALMIA LATIFOLIA.
by scraping in the throat ; dyspnoea; stitches in the lower part of the chest.
Heaet
Fluttering and palpitation of the heart (small doses).
The pulse becomes almost imperceptible ; general weakness and faintness (large doses).
Neck and Back
Pain in the neck extending down the back ; stiffness, pain, feeling of violent pressure in the neck.
Pain in the back, extending through the shoulders.
Constant pain in the spine with great heat and burning.
Lameness in the small of the back.
Aching across the loins, worse in the evening.
Exteemities
Tearing and pressing pains in the arm and shoulder, swelling of the arms and hands.
Pressure in the left arm.
Tearing from the left elbow down the arm into the fingers ; stitches in and numbness of the hands.
Heaviness and numbness of the lower limbs..
Pain in the lower extremities.
Eheumatic pains in the right leg, from the hip down.
Tearing in the bones of the hips and lower extremities down to the feet.
Sticking pain in the hip and sacral region.
Pain in the fore part of the thighs during menses.
Tearing in the flesh of the whole left limb.
Aching in the knees, calves and feet, jerking in the heels; stitching in the toes.
Pressure in the feet.
Skin EN
Pimples and pustules with itching and burning. Holding the flowers in the hands caused an erysipelatous eruption, similar to rims, first on the hands, then spreading, with dangerous respiratory troubles (observed in a young, delicate girl, who afterward, every year at the same time, had a roughness of the cheek).
General
The rheumatic pains take in an entire limb, and are greatly aggravated by motion.
Chilliness.
Great lassitude.
Ver- tigo when looking down.
Amelioration while lying down.
It has been stated, that our limited knowledge of the action of this drug makes a thorough analysis an impossibility. We know, how- ever, that it exerts a remarkable influence upon the nervous system and is, under favorable conditions, one of our best remedies for rheumatic and neuralgic difficulties. While it is of the greatest value in this class of diseases, whether appearing in the form of a prosopalgia, as an abdominal neuralgia or a severe type of rheuma- tism attacking a whole limb, it is of even greater importance in those cardiac difficulties which so often follow acute rheumatism ns. You find a beautiful picture of such states in the terrible distress in the cardiac region, the shooting, darting, unbearable pain in the
KALMIA LATIFOLIA. 263
chest and at the heart, the consequent extreme difficulty of breathing, the pulse, the coldness of surface, etc., all of which symptoms form a part of the pathogenetic record of the mountain-laurel. We may then prescribe kalmia for the following : PROSOPALGIA, especially of the right side and very intense. The pain may be over the eye or in the temple, confined to that particular location or running down into the teeth ; or it may start from the cervical region and run upward and forward, with a prefer- ence for the right side ; it becomes worse toward night ; the affected parts are very tender to touch and the pain is relieved by quiet and colu.
HEADxlOHE of a rheumatic character and origin; headache from exposure to the heat of the sun, pulsating, beating, pressing ; worse on the right side ; if caused by exposure to the sun, the head will feel better as the sun goes down.
A servant girl had, for three months, been afflicted with a severe pressing headache which she named a " sun headache," because it increases with the ascending sun and decreases as the sun goes down.
Having given her, at my office, a powder of kalmia, in the 5th trituration, she afterward described the headache as suddenly going away as she waited in the car-office on her return home, and it never came back.
(Dr.
David Thayer, New Eng.
Med.
Gazette, April, 1874.)
RHEUMATIC OPHTHALMIA with stiffness in the muscles of the eye and consequent difficulty of moving them ; giddiness and vertigo upon looking downward ; great weakness of the eyes ; keen, darting pain in the eyes or smarting and redness of the eyes.
TOOTHi\.CHE with neuralgia of the face and head ; worse in the evening, on the right side and in the under teeth.
ABDOMINAL NEURALGIA—
Mrs.
M., aged twenty-five years, had an attack of very sharp, cutting, tearing pain about the lower border of the liver, passing across the abdomen above the umbilicus, then down the left side, midway between the umbilicus and the crest of the ilium, where it remained.
After the pain became located in the left side, it ceased in the right.
It came on suddenly, in paroxysms, was much worse from motion, and from lying on either side.
There was no heat nor swelling nor tenderness on pressure.
The stools and other excretions were natural.
Belladonna, bryonia, lachesis and cold and hot applications did no good.
Kalmia latifolia1 cured the disease very speedily.
(Dr.
A.
M.
Gushing.)
Mrs. , aged thirty years, had been sick a week with a so-called inflammation
of the bowels, and under regular treatment.
She was confined to her bed, but had little unnatural heat, but she was nervous and discouraged.
Tongue, pulse, bowels and urine were natural.
She had very severe pains in the left side of the bowels, to the left and below the umbilicus.
At the seat of the pain there was neither heat, swelling nor tenderness to pressure.
Gelsemium relieved her restlessness somewhat and gave her some sleep.
Kalmia latifolia, 2d decimal dilution, was given in solu- tion, two spoonfuls every two hours.
Every trace of the disease was gone next day. {Ibid.)
RHEUMATISM of an "inflammatory nature; pains shift about
264 KALMIA LATIFOLIA.
from one place to another ; high fever ; every attempt to move is attended by most excrutiating pains; periostal pains precluding sleep; ankles most painful and swollen; wandering rheumatic pains around or in the heart ; pains generally go from the upper to the lower parts; valvular diseases." (Lilienthal.)
A lady had been troubled with rheumatism for several years.
She had: Pains in different parts of the body, frequently changing position ; a severe pain running from the little finger along the ulna to the elbow.
Cured by kalmia.
(Dr.
Faust in Am.
Homceopathist, Feb. 1878.)
C.
B. had : Pains in the region of the heart, fluttering of the heart, dyspnoea, ina- bility to lie on the left side, as it caused violent palpitations.
The pains were shifting.
Kalmia8 cured in two days, after cactus had failed.
(Ibid.)
Mary F., aged sixty-eight years, had a severe attack of rheumatism of the right shoulder, lasting four weeks.
She suffered terribly.
Cured by kalmia, a few drops of the tincture in water.
Later, had a relapse, which was easily cured by kalmia309 (Ibid.)
Mrs.
J.
S. presented : Pains in the region of the heart ; a tired feeling of the whole body; constipation; the pains somewhat sharp and piercing, then again dull and sore, extending over the left shoulder ; has had it for about a year ; worse in damp weather; has had rheumatism of the back and shoulders.
Kalmia80 produced a great improvement in a short time.
(Professor Lilienthal's Clinic.)
A little girl of ten years had been ill ten days of what had been called " neuralgia of the chest." When I entered the room, her attitude, propped up in bed, her anxious expression of face, the livid hue of countenance and the visible, tumultuous and very rapid action of the heart, made it evident that she was suffering from violent acute endocarditis, perhaps, also, pericarditis.
She had just had acute rheumatism, great weakness of limbs, but no pain.
I gave kalmia latifolia, though her case was pronounced hopeless, and I had no hope of her.
She recovered completely, con- tinued to take the remedy and, to my surprise, had no valvular murmur.
(Carroll Dunham.
Lectures on Materia Medica.)
ALBUMINURIA — Kalmia has produced no symptoms upon the healthy which point directly to the use of the drug in this disease. But, as is frequently the case, conditons or symptoms may arise which point to it so directly, that its adaptation to the case cannot he overlooked by any fair student of materia medica. If we have a rheumatic history, or, in other words, if we know that the disease was brought on by cold, exposure to damp weather or similar causes, if we have persistent rheumatic pains all through the various stages, kalmia will be thought of as a probable remedy in the case ; and when a closer examination shows that the peculiarity of the pains points to kalmia, if there are added other characteristic symptoms, such as dyspnoea, dizziness, headache, vertigo, great lassitude, we may be sure that in the mountain laurel we have the indicated remedy.
AMEELA. 265
KAMEELA.
An -inflammable powder, granular, reddish, composed of the hairy covering of the fruit of rottlera tinctoria, a native of India.
It is a drastic medicine, which has acquired fame as an antbelminthic, causing the expulsion of the tape-worm in a comparatively short time, without producing very unpleasant effects upon the patient.
It may be given in tincture-form, or in one- or two-drachm doses of the powder suspended in mucilage or simple syrup.
The author has had good effects from the administration of two doses of one drachm each of kameela, followed by a dose of salts.
There is, at times, considerable nausea and even vomiting, which can be avoided by keeping perfectly quiet.
Kameela is at times given in combina- tion with kousso, as in the case cited hereafter.
It is in no sense a violation of homoeopathic teaching, to resort to such agents in a certain class of cases. It is but partially true, that strict attendance to the general health of a patient will unfit the in- testine for a dwelling place of these disagreeable intruders, as long as they are introduced into the organism from the outside world, and as frequently the cause of annoyance and suffering, as they are the result of diseased conditions. It is equally true, that a correct diagnosis cannot be based upon anything but ocular demonstration, and the administration of the best selected remedies, while often very satisfactory in the amelioration of constitutional disturbances, can be of no permanent benefit so long as the offender remains in possession of the field. Occasionally, small and frequently repeated doses are given with comparatively good results ; generally speaking, the course and doses above indicated will be found most satisfactory.
C.
B., aged thirty years, took kameyla pura in about one-third its bulk of sugar of milk, in about five-grain doses.
In five hours he began to pass portions of the tape- worm.
I directed him to take the medicine three times a day, but when he found out that the medicine was having its intended effect, he mixed up all I had given him — one ounce — and took it at a single dose.
In ten hours, he passed twenty feet or more of the worm, all dead.
For more than a week he continued to pass portions of worm and thinks now that he is cured.
He had been troubled for six years.
(Dr.
G.
W.
Bruington, in Med. hivestigator, Nov., 1873.)
A convict patient of Dr.
Pauline, having informed him that he was suffering from tape-worm, was immediately ordered : Fluor. 3i., kousso 3vi., kameela 3iv.
Half of this powder was taken immediately in water; this was at eight o'clock in the morning.
At nine o'clock he took a dose of karlsbad salts, and one hour later, the remaining half of the powder.
No nausea or vomiting was produced.
About half after eleven o'clock, free evacuation took place and in the stool was found a coil of several tape-worms.
Four heads of the tcenia solium were discovered in addition to a large number of healthy segments. [Am.
Observer, Oct., 1878, from Allg.
Med, Central Zeitung, No. 21, 1878.)
266 KAOLIN-.