Phytolacca Decandra

Phytolacca decandra, L.

Natural order , Phytolaccaceae.

Common names , Poke, Garget-weed.

Preparation , Tincture of the root.

Authorities. 1 , Schultz, Inaug. Thesis, effects of large quantities of the root (from Bigelow, Med. Botany); 2 , Bigelow, Am. Med.

Bot., effects of large doses; 3 , same, effects of scruple doses in Dr. Geo. Hayward; 4 , Jahr's New Manual, by Hemptel, symptoms, from Trans. Am.

Inst. of Hom., vol. ii (original not to be had); 5 , Dr. S. Rosa, Am. Mag., 1, p. 329, 1851, effects in two young women of taking about 3 ounces of an infusion of 4 to 5 ounces of root in cold water; 6 , Flumiani, Journ. de Chim.

Méd., 1858, p. 458, effects of eating the stems, in three boys; 7 , Dr. Donnelly, effects of powdering the root, from Griffith's Med. Bot. (Hale's New Remedies, 2d ed.); 8 , Burt, provings with Phytolacca and "Phytolaccin," Hale's New Remedies, 2d ed.; 9 , Dr.

C. H. Lee, Hale's New Remedies, effects of eating a lot of the berries, in a boy; 10 , Paine, "Concentrated Medicines, 1865" (electric), from Hale, effects of 1 to 1 1/2-grain doses in healthy persons; 11 , H. Barton Fellows, from Hale, proving with small doses (1 to 1 1/2 drops) of tincture; 11 a , same, 12 pellets 2d dec. dil., first day, 15 pellets, fourth day; 11 b , same, 8 drops of 2d dec. dil.; 12 , Dr.

Marshall, proving with the tincture, repeated doses for four days of 10 drops to 4 drachms, from Hale; 13 , J. Lester Keep, effects of inhaling the powder of the root while grinding it, from Hale; 14 , Dr. ---, proving, from Hale, effects of fumes from slicing the green root; 15 , Griggs, from Hale, effects of 2 or 3 drachms of tincture in a boy six years old; 16 , Warren, Trans. Hom. Med.

Soc. of St. of N. York, 1865, effects of chewing and swallowing small bits (3 or 4 grains) of the fresh root; 17 , Bahrenburg, Western Hom. Obs., 3, 126, 1866, effects of eating a small piece of the root; 18 , Cooley, Trans. Hom.

Med. Soc. of State of N. Y., 1870, proving with 5 grains, 4 P.M., first day, 10 grains, 8 A.M., third day; 19 , Gilman, Med. Invest., 1871, p. 19, effects on a family of eating the fresh root grated with horseradish; 20 , Rawlings Young, American Practitioner, 9, 380, three children ate the root at 11.30 A.M., and at 12 ate a hearty dinner; 21 , Grasmuck, Ohio Med. and Surg.

Rep., 8, 289, a woman suffering from a slight pain in the right hip took, three times a day, a small swallow of an infusion of 3 ounces of P. in a pint of whisky; 21 a , same, effects of smaller doses of same in a man; 22 , C. H. Lee, Bib. Hom., 1874, p. 182, effect on a child of eating the berries; 23 , W.

S. Searle (MSS. to editor of this work), effects of eating grated root (by mistake for horseradish), in a man about sixty years old; 24 , same, in another, aged twenty-one; 25 , omitted; 26 , Williamson, Trans. Penn. State Hom.

Med., Soc., 1871, p. 179, effects of chewing and swallowing small pieces of the fresh root; 27 , Whipple, Electric Med. Journ., 35, p. 560, a woman suffering from inflammation of right breast took of a solution of 10 drops of tincture in 3 ounces of water, a teaspoonful and in an hour a tablespoonful; 28 , Libby (MSS. to editor), effects of eating the root for a trivial complaint; 29 , Craig, Richmond and Louisville Med. J., 1869, p. 237, a man aged twenty-nine ate half at root six inches long.

Feeling of intoxication and weakness on rising and walking about (second day), [16] .

Increased cheerfulness of the mind, [4] .

The mind has been gloomy since I began taking it, and more than usually irritable (fourth day); more cheerful (fifth day), [11] . Great loss of personal delicacy; there appeared to be a total disregard of all surrounding objects, and no disposition to adjust their persons under any circumstances , [5] .

*Sense of entire indifference to life , and disgust for the business of the day, on waking, early in the morning, [4] .

Indisposition to mental exertion, with the heavy aching feeling in the head and vertigo (after three hours and a half, fourth day), [11a] .

The patients in a half stupor all the time, and would fall asleep immediately after a paroxysm of cramping had passed, [19] .

Alarming vertigo, with nausea (after half an hour), [5] . *Vertigo , [13] , [16] , [20] ; (after one hour and a half), [29] . [10.]

Vertigo, with dimness of vision, [4] .

Dulness, giddiness, and vertigo, [4] .

I have sometimes observed slight narcotic symptoms during the operation of Phytolacca, particularly vertigo, [2] .

Transient giddiness, [4] . He never noticed any dizziness or stupor from it, although he had always been particular in his inquiries to know if any such symptoms took place, [3] .

Slight dizziness, with the heat in the head (after three hours, third day), [18] . General Head.

Head thrown backward to its utmost extent, [5] . Dulness of the head, [4] , [19] .

A heavy aching feeling in the head, with vertigo and indisposition to mental exertion (after three hours and a half, fourth day), [11a] .

*Headache, with sickness at the stomach , [19] .

Headache (after one hour and a half), [29] ; (after third dose, second day); slight all day (third day), [12] .

During the forenoon I had a severe headache, which began soon after breakfast; a part of the time the whole head ached; a part of the time the pain was in the temples, and was accompanied by a slight vertigo, and a part of the time the pain was most marked in or confined to the occiput; walking or riding increased the pain, but walking the most (fourth day), [11] . Headache, with sickness of the stomach, from walking, [4] . Headache, [4] , [7] .

Pain through the whole head of a dull character (after three hours and three-quarters), [16] . [30.]

Pains throughout the head aching, [4] .

The pain in head is increased by looking down and by stooping, [4] .

Moving, transitory pains in various parts of the head, almost constantly, generally in one side at a time, but more frequently and most severe on right side , [4] .

No pains in head until leucorrhoea commenced, then had pain through both temples, [27] . *Sore pain over the head, worse on the right side and in damp weather, as if an attack of sick headache were approaching, [4] . *Sensation of soreness in the interior of the head , [19] . *Sensation of soreness in the interior of the head, deep in the brain , [4] .

Pressure in the head, as if it would burst, at 3 P.M. (second day), [18] .

Many of the symptoms, especially those about the head and throat, are better after breakfast, while the heat and many of the abdominal symptoms are worse, in the afternoon, [4] .

Forehead. Dulness, with sensation of weight in the forehead, [4] . [40.]

Headache, commencing in the frontal region and extending backward , [13] .

Pain in the region of time and mirthfulness, on the right side, [4] .

Pain in the forehead and temples very severe, with a feeling of lassitude (first night), [8] . The pains in the head are chiefly in the forehead, and worse after dinner, [4] .

*One-sided pain just above the eyebrows, with sickness of the stomach , [4] . [50.]

Slight pain in the forepart of the head, with increased sense of hearing, [4] .

Slight pain in the tuberosities of the forehead, [4] . Slight fulness of forehead, with constant gaping, [4] .

Pressure in the forehead, after dinner, most in the glabella, [4] .

Pressure on forehead and upper parts of both eyes, painful, [4] .

Slight pressure across the forehead, with gaping, [4] . Slight constriction across the forehead, [4] .

Pain in the temples and forehead, at 7 A.M. (second day), [18] . [60.]

Pain in the left temple, followed by burning in the skin, in the left region of time, [4] . Drawing pain in the right temple, [4] .

Pain and pressure in the temples (after two hours), [18] .

Pressure on the temples and constrictive feeling at the praecordia, like the feeling that precedes sea-sickness, [4] .

Pressure in the temples, [4] .

Pressure in the temples and over the eyes, [4] . Vertex.

Heaviness at the top of the head (soon after fifth dose), [12] . Pain in the top of the head, and a sensation as if the brain were bruised, when stepping from a high step to the ground, [4] . *Pressure in the top of the head, with dryness , lasting an hour (fifteen minutes after second dose, second day), [12] .

Headache in the vertex, beginning while riding, at 5 P.M.; motion increased the pain and caused vertigo; pain lasted until I went to sleep at night (after five hours and a half), [11a] .

Parietals. [70.]

Throbbing headache on right side, [28] .

Eye.

The eyes ached and were subjectively sore (second day), [24] .

Sensation of twitching about the eyes, [24] .

Shooting pain from the left eye to the top of the head, which passes off and returns at short intervals, [4] . [80.]

Shooting from the left eye to the top of the head, [4] .

Pressure in the eyes, [4] . Some painful pressure on the upper part of both eyes and forehead, [4] . *Sandy feeling in the eyes , [4] .

*The prominent feeling in the eyes is that of smarting , [4] . The symptoms of the eyes and eyelids are worse in the morning, but the vision is worse in the evening, [4] . [90.]

During one of the provings the symptoms of the eyes became so severe that Sulphur was taken as an antidote, and all the subsequent symptoms appeared on the left side, [4] .

When enumerating the symptoms of the eyes only, we find the left one most frequently mentioned, [4] . Orbit.

Aching pain along the lower half of the right orbit, [4] .

Pressure around the eyes, in the afternoon, as if the eyes were too large, [4] .

Pressure over the eyes, [4] . Lids.

Eyes agglutinated and oedematous, as if poisoned (second morning); this state continued two days, [14] . Agglutination of the eyelids, during the night, [4] .

Reddish-blue swelling of the eyelids, worse on the left side and in the morning; cannot close the eyes without pain all the forenoon, better in the afternoon, [4] . Soreness on closing the eyelids, [4] .

Lids feel as if granulated, and the tarsal edges have a scalded, hot feeling, as if raw (fourth day); granulated, sandy sensation in the lids, with same sensation upon the edges (fifth day), [24] . [100.]

The lids felt as if coals of fire were laid upon them, [24] .

Sensation as if a grain of sand were lodged under the left eyelid, causing a secretion and flow of tears from that eye, [4] .

Pupil. Great dilatation of pupils (after five hours), [20] .

Long-sightedness, [4] .

Dizziness of vision now began to be manifest (after four hours and a quarter); impairment of vision increasing (after five hours), [16] . [110.]

Diplopia; not only two, but four and five reduplications of an object were apparent; the objects, whether double, triple, or otherwise, were in the same horizontal plane (first day); the diplopia grew worse, in the evening, and again three or four reduplications were visible (second day); the same eye symptoms, with evening exacerbation (third day); diplopia, with twitching (fourth day); only when suddenly raising the eyes to look at a higher object (fifth day), [24] .

Aversion to light, [28] .

Photophobia, in the morning, [4] .

Ear.

Pain in both ears, worse in the right one, [4] .

Shooting pain in the right ear, very quick, [4] . A sensation of obstruction in the left Eustachian tube, with a rushing sound in the ear of the same side, and a feeling as if the hearing were dull, while at the same time it is sensitive to the most minute sounds, [4] .

Irritation in one of the Eustachian tubes, [4] .

Increased sense of hearing, with pain in the forehead, [4] . [120.] Increased sense of hearing; the right is most affected, [4] .

Pustule in the nostril (fifth day), [24] .

Severe coryza (after three hours, third day; after four hours, fourth day), [18] .

Fluent coryza, for two days (after two days), [14] . All the effects of a severe coryza, [7] .

Total obstruction of the nose when riding, so that one is forced to breathe altogether through the mouth, and cannot relieve himself by blowing the nose, [4] .

Stoppage of the right nostril, [4] . [130.]

During the night one nostril was stopped up (second day), [11a] .

Sensation in nostril is smarting and stinging, at 9 A.M.; have ridden in open carriage three hours; sensation in throat almost entirely gone, at 1 P.M.; have been in a warm room about two hours and find symptom returning, but less violent, at 5 P.M. (second day), [26] .

Sensation in the right nostril as if tickled with a stiff feather (after three hours and a quarter), [26] . He felt first a burning sensation in the nose, then dryness in the throat, which soon produced soreness; then, watery discharge from the nostrils, which increased until the nose became "stuffed," [13] . *Drawing sensation about the root of the nose , [4] .

Drawing sensation above the root of the nose, [4] . *Feeling in the nose and eyes as if a cold would come on , [4] .

Paleness of the face, which looked sunken, blue, and suffering, [19] .

*Paleness of the face , [4] .

Teeth all ache, are very sore, and feel elongated, [8] .

Shooting pains in the molar teeth of the upper and lower jaws of the right side, [4] . [150.] Irresistible inclination to bite the teeth together, [4] . Tongue.

Tongue coated white, [9] , [22] .

A white coating made its appearance on the tongue the third day; it still continues (sixth day), [12] .

Tongue coated yellow, and dry (after three hours, third day), [18] .

Tongue swollen and yellow, [24] .

General Mouth. [160.]

Great congestion and swelling of the soft palate and tonsils; the right tonsil is half as large again as the left; both are of a very dark red, [8] .

Swelling of the soft palate, [4] . Small ulcers on the inside of the right cheek, like those caused by Mercury, [4] .

Tenderness and heat in the roof of the mouth and on the tongue, [4] . Dryness of the palate, in the morning, [4] .

Saliva. Profuse secretion of saliva each day, [12] .

Profuse secretion of saliva, in the morning (second day), [12] . Constant flow from mouth, throat, and salivary glands of a thick, ropy, tenacious secretion (after two hours and a quarter), [16] . *Secretion of saliva increased , [13] .

Mouth fills with water, [4] . [170.]

Flow of saliva into the mouth, [4] .

The saliva is yellowish and has a metallic taste, [4] . Cold, sticky, stringy saliva, [24] .

No saliva, [27] .

Metallic taste in the mouth (fourth and fifth days), [12] , [8] . Taste like nuts, in the mouth, [4] .

Taste, bitter at first, but leaving a slight feeling of smarting and coldness towards the tip of the tongue, [4] .