Glonoine

Glonoin or nitro-glycerine is considered in this part of the course of lectures on account of its symptomatic resemblance to Belladonna.

It is a ver)' easy drug to study.

Though its main point of attack is the blood, it does not affect the quality of that fluid so much as it does its circulation.

It acts very quickly and very violently.

The key-note to the whole symptomatology of the drug is expressed in this one sen- tence : "A tendency to sudden and violent irregula? ities of the circulation . ' '

With that for our foundation we can easily work out the other symp- toms.

The symptoms which are traceable to the irregularities in the circulation are these : very characteristic, indeed, is a throbbing head- ache.

The pain may be in the whole head, or it may be in the fore- head, vertex, occiput or any one part of the head.

This throbbing is not a mere sensation; it is an actual fact.

It really seems as though the blood-vessels would burst, so violent is the congestive action of the drug.

The throbbing is synchronous with every impulse of the heart.

The blood seems to surge in one great current up the spine and into the head.

The bloodvessels externally become distended.

The ex- ternal jugulars look like two tortuous cords, the carotids throb vio- lently and are hard, tense and unyielding to pressure.

The face is >deep red.

This throbbing is either associated with dull, distressing ..aching or with sharp, violent pains.

We find Glo?ioi?i applicable to sunstroke, indicated either by the :symptoms already mentioned, or by symptoms which show that the prolonged congestion has produced depressing effects upon the brain.

The face becomes rather pale, the pulse, which was at first full, grows soft and feeble, and the respiration labored.

There is not as much pressure about the chest as about the medulla oblongata, thus inter- fering with the nerves of respiration.

The eyes are often fixed.

The patient may even be unconscious.

Glonoin, then, we find to be our best remedy for the effects of heat, whether the trouble arises from the direct rays of the sun, from hot weather or from working in the intense heat of a furnace, as in the case of foundrymen and machinists.

These effects of the sun or heat are not confined to the head alone, but may involve the whole body.

Thus we note oppression of breath- ing, with palpitation of the heart and nausea and vomiting, with white coated tongue.

This nausea is not gastric in origin, but cerebral, as under Rhus tox., Belladonna and Apomorphine.

The appetite is gone; there is no desire for food; there is a horrible sunken feeling in the epigastrium, and often, too, diarrhoea.

All these symptoms call for Glonoin.

Still other effects of this congestion are found in the eye.

The eyes feel as if too large and protrude as though bursting out of the head.

Glo?win is indicated in eye diseases arising from exposure to very bright light, as in the case of one obliged to work at a desk beneath a hot, bright light, as a bright Argand burner.

If you should examine such an eye with the ophthalmoscope, you will find the bloodvessels of the retina distended or, in extreme cases, apoplexy of the retina.

Again the effects of the increased blood pressure under Glonoin may be noticed in the symptoms of the mouth.

For instance, there is diffi- culty in conversation from diminished power of the tongue, this due to pressure on the cerebral centres.

Wine aggravates all these symp- toms.

Sometimes the congestion is so great as to make the patient frantic ; he tries to escape, to jump out of the window.

Another effect of the cerebral congestion is convulsions.

Glonoin is an admirable remedy for the convulsions coming on during labor, puerperal convulsions.

The face is bright red and puffed, the pulse full and hard and the urine albuminous.

The patient froths at the mouth ; she is unconscious.

The hands are clenched, the thumbs be- ing in the palms of the hands.

At other times the hands are stretched out as under Secale, and the patient is unconscious.

I think that Glonoin is one of the best remedies we have for the congestive form of puerperal convulsions, that form which is announced by rush of blood to the head, especially if there is albuminuria.

It is also invaluable in congestion to the head from suppressed menses.

The mental symptoms traceable to this congestion are syncope or sudden fainting, the face being pale or often livid, black spots before the eyes, sudden onset of unconsciousness, well-known streets seem strange to the patient.

This last s}7mptom is one decidedly dangerous.

It may be the forerunner of an actual attack.

A person who is sub- ject to apoplectic congestion is suddenly seized in the streets with one of these attacks and does not know where he is.

Glonoi?iis the remedy for him.

Glonoin is also useful for the bad effects of fear.

I mentioned that briefly when speaking of Opium.

There is horrible apprehension and also sometimes the fear of being poisoned. 1ms last symptom places it alongside of Hyoscyamus, Lachesis, Rhus fox. , Bromide of Potassium and Baptisia.

Another use of Glonoin is its application to trauma.

It has been found an excellent remedy for pains and other abnormal sensations, following some time after local injuries.

Long after the reception of an injury, the part pains or feels sore, or an old scar breaks out again; then Glonoin seems to relieve.