Causticum

The history of this remedy is of more than usual interest to the homoeopathic physician. Its chemical nature is to this day shrouded in uncertainty, and many physicians deny its very existence. By some practitioners it is considered inert and absolutely useless, while others attribute to it remarkable curative powers.

Its introduction into the materia medica is due to Hahnemann, who attributed to this substance the caustic properties of quicklime.

Noack and Trincks state, that it is of value in affections of scrofu- lous and weakly constitution of women. Organisms which have be- come debilitated in consequence of long grief are especially suitable for the administration of the drug. Excessive waste of tissue is a strong indication for the remedy.

We will consider the use of causticum under our various groups, with the preliminary statement that in all of the diseases, in whose treatment causticum is suggested, the characteristic mental and moral symptoms of the remedy should be carefully considered. An anxious, solicitous, apprehensive mood is somewhat peculiar to the remedy. We find utter despondency, extreme fearfulness, dissatis- faction, excessive irritability, a tendency to be easily vexed, vehement manners, an inclination to be offended upon slight provocation, an indisposition to work, weakness of memory, absence of mind and other similar symptoms recorded by the provers.

NERVOUS GROUP.

Causticum has caused : startings of the left arm ; after slightly exerting the left (weak) arm, it is convulsively jerked up and down ; twitchings in the outer side of the elbow-joint, when leaning the arm on something ; small, tremulous twitchings in the right forearm while writing ; spasmodic sensation in the hands ; involuntary con- traction of the fingers ; trembling and shaking of the extremities ; jactitation of the muscles of the left thigh, above the knee ; con- tractive sensation in the right calf, both when at r*est and in motion ; jactitation of the muscles and slight jerking in different parts of the body ; continual twitching in the right side of the body ; general tremor ; unsteadiness of the limbs, causing a staggering to and fro, as if intoxicated, without any vertigo, etc.

CHOKEA. — These symptoms point with tolerable certainty to chorea. It seems to affect the right side in preference to the left.

672 CAUSTICUM.

Jahr, in his work on Nervous Diseases, speaks of it as highly efficient in grave cases and where the choreic symptoms follow a retrocedent eruption of the head.

Raue, in his work on Pathology and Therapeutics, mentions a case from Gross, in a young girl, presenting the following : The child laid down on her stomach, when one of her knees was firmly inserted into the hollow of the other knee, and her feet drawn upward upon the buttocks. In this position her body commenced jerking for- ward and backward, simulating the movements which are exercised during coition ; at the same time the muscles of her face became contorted, similar to risus sardonicus. After the attack the child would be exhausted; but during the intervals she showed no particular symptoms ; the spells were worse in the morning. Cured by causticum.

Causticum has caused decided paralytic symptoms ; hence it has been recommended in the treatment of that formidable difficulty.

PARALYSIS of the tongue, face, hemiplegia, apoplectic paralysis, brought about by exposure or suppression of an eruption, accompa- nied by shifting, tearing, rheumatic pains and the mental and moral condition already described, has been cured by causticum.

Ella D., affected with partial hemiplegia. While at work beside her mother, the latter noticed that the patient's mouth laughed only on one side, and reproved her for making faces. Upon going to the mirror, she noticed, for the first time, that the face was somewhat swollen, and contracted only on one side ; the eye of the affected side was weeping, and the tongue could not be protruded in the middle line. The menses, which were nearly established, had failed to make their appearance for eight weeks; but otherwise the patient was in perfect health.

Causticum relieved all the symptoms in a few days. (Dr. Anna Munroe in New Eng. Med.

Gazette, April, 1875.)

EPILEPSY. — In epilepsy causticum may prove a most important remedy. In his Chronic Diseases, Hahnemann furnishes provings which describe in a truly graphic manner the varied symptoms which characterize this condition. Raue furnishes the following excellent summing up of its indications (Pathology and Therapeutics, 510).

Before the attach Imbecility of mind ; heat of the head, followed by sweat all over ; great pressure in the pit of the stomach, extend- ing all over the chest and hindering breathing. During the spell Sometimes bleeding of the nose ; very red face ; biting of the tongue.

Afterward Soporous condition ; headache ; noise in the head ; exhaustion. During the intervals On the scalp and glabella small, round, soft lumps ; sweats easily on the head ; stoppage of the nose ; tongue coated wliite on both sides; sour or sweetish, badly tasting eructation, like ink or rotten wood ; pain in the small of the back and constant coldness of the shoulders and joints of the feet ; great restlessness which urges him to run away.

Causes Suppressed itch; protracted intermittent ; softening of the brain. Worse during new moon ; drinking cold water as soon as the pressure in the stomach commences prevents the attack.

CAUSTICUM. 673

NEURALGIA, more especially on the right side and of the face, accompanied by chilliness, urinary and menstrual derangements, de- pression of mind and with nightly aggravations may be relieved by oausticum.

SPECIAL SENSES.

Oausticum produces many decided effects upon the eye. We have among others : aching in the eye, going off when touching the eye ; pressure in the orbits and behind the eyes ; pressure in the eyes, as if sand were in them ; itching over and in the eyes, and of the eye- lids ; heat and smarting in the eyes ; burning in the eyes, without redness ; dryness of the eyes ; agglutination of the lids ; lachryma- tion ; visible jerking of the lids and of the eyebrows ; weakness of sight ; momentary obscuration of sight when blowing the nos3 ; obscuration of sight, as if a gauze were drawn over the eyes ; dim- sighted ness, as if a thick fog were before the eyes ; when looking at an object too long, the objects before him began to waver and be- came confused. In

AMBLYOPIA, or weakness, dullness, dimness of sight, it is a val- uable drug, when it seems as if one were looking through a fog or as if a veil were suddenly placed over the eye ; or when there is an appearance of black thread before the eyes. If these symptoms appear suddenly, disappearing after a while only to return agai^ the causticum is apt to relieve.

FISTULA LAOHRYMALIS has been cured by it.

Mr. Clifton {Monthly Homoeopathic Reviezv, July, 1868) mentions a case in which sulphur, silicea and lycopodium had been given without benefit, when four doses of causticum, four globules of the 30th each, were given every other night, fol- lowed by an interval of a week without medicine. This plan was pursued for three months, when, being nearly well, the patient left off treatment. He came back worse in six weeks. The same treatment was again adopted, and within two months the fistula was cured and remained so.

In scrofulous and rheumatic diseases of the eye it may be well to bear in mind causticum, especially when the patient shows indica- tions of a disturbance in the vegetative sphere, a great waste of tissue, constipation and despondency, with nervous irritation, twitching of the lids and of the muscles of the body.

OTITIS may find its remedy in causticum, when there is hardness of hearing, whizzing, buzzing and ringing in the ears, and when every step taken seems to re-echo in the ears.

TOOTHACHE may yield to the internal application of causticum when there is a tendency to neuralgia affecting the whole side of the

VOL. I. — 42.

674 CAUSTICUM.

face, with sensitiveness to pressure. The pain is usually throbbing, beating, stinging and very severe. The teeth feel elongated ; the gums are tender and swollen. Going into the open air aggravates the pain. Caused by exposure.

CHYLO-POIETTC GKOUP.

Causticum has caused pain in the abdomen; inflated abdomen with internal pressure ; pain, as if the abdomen were being drawn together with a rope, when breathing ; pinching belly-ache, with paleness of the face ; pinching around the navel, pinching and cut- ting in the right side of the abdomen, as if diarrhoea would come on ; violent pinching and cutting in the whole abdomen, with fermenta- tion ; cutting pain in the bowels, with emission of flatulence ; swelling of the umbilicus with pain all around, when touching it ; incarcerated flatulence.

COLIC. — These symptoms indicate its use in colic, with much rumbling in the bowels and a great deal of shifting, darting, annoy- ing pain. It is of particular use in persons of a constipated habit and in cases of long standing.

CONSTIPATION The pro vers record a variety of symptoms under the head "Stool" While in a few instances we have recorded soft, diarrhoeic stools, we find that the drug is more strictly homoe- opathic to constipation. We read : frequent and unsuccessful effort to pass stool, accompanied with a good deal of pain, anxiety and redness of the face ; frequent desire to pass stool without expelling anything but flatulence ; tenesmus ; the rectum is painfully and spas- modically contracted, which prevents stool being passed ; hard, firm stool ; the stool was expelled in pieces ; after this there was a con- traction at the rectum, and now the stool expelled was soft and of the size of a goose-quill.

Stitches in the rectum during stool ; burn- ing in the anus after stool, with prostration ; anxiety after stool. Pressure in the rectum the whole day ; a pressing pain frequently and suddenly darts through the rectum ; a feeling as if feces were lodged in it, which should come away ; spasms in the rectum which make walking impossible ; stitches in the lower part of the rectum ; excessive itching of the rectum, anus and pudendum ; violent burn- ing at the anus during stool, with soreness of and oozing of humor from the rectum.

Large painful varices of the rectum, hindering stool, greatly increased in soreness by walking. Pain and strong pulsations in the perineum.

The symptoms given you do not only afford us a perfect y \cture

CAUST1CUM. 675

'•of severe cases of acute and chronic constipation, but point out other and very painful affections of the intestinal tract, for which causti- cum may prove of great use. I refer to

HEMORRHOIDAL TUMORS, exceedingly painful and usually the legitimate sequence of a long-continued constipated habit and to

FISTULA IN ANO, indicated by the symptoms enumerated.

Mr. Clifton, in an article in the Monthly Horn. Review, July, 1868, says: In constipation of children, especially if there is nocturnal enuresis; a dry, unhealthy skin, every injury of which suppurates; dryness of the rectum, with great contraction of the sphincter ani ; pain in the rectum during stool, inducing children to restrain evacuation of the bowels for many days together, 1 have used it successfully. In internal haemorrhoids, with constipation and shooting pains up the rectum, it is use- ful.

One lady, who had been under my care two months, and during that time had taken sulphur, mix and graphites, suffered so much shooting pain in the rectum when walking, as frequently to compel her to seek relief by resting on a doorstep, was quite cured after taking causticum for a fortnight. For many years now she has had no return of the pain. I have seen one case of fistula in ano completely cured by causticum, and another was much improved by its use. In the former, the patient, aged forty years, had suffered from haemorrhoids for some years.

For years pre- viously to my seeing him he had been operated on for their relief by Mr. Ashton. On examining him I found a complete fistula, discharging dirty pus and flatus. My diagnosis being somewhat alarming, he again consulted Mr.

Ashton, who assured him that the knife alone would cure him. As there was no immediate necessity for operating he placed himself under my care. The treatment I adopted consisted in syringing the rectum with warm water twice daily, especially after stool, and injecting a weak calendula lotion through the fistula. I also gave him sulphur30 twice a day for a week.

A careful study of the case led me to select causticum. I gave him the 12th dilution twice a day for a week, then the 30th, then the 3d, omiting medicine for two or three days between each dilution. Pursuing this course of treatment for three months the fistula was completely cured.

Causticum causes a taste in the mouth, as if the stomach were seriously deranged, bitter, greasy, foul; fitful appetite, thirst; diminished taste; aversion to sweet things; white coating on the tongue. These may be of use to you in making up the totality of indications for the remedy.

INFLAMMATORY GROUP.

Causticum is not a remedy which produces a true inflammation of .any of the structures of the body. But it causes some conditions which we may, as a matter of convenience, study under this head ; among them the effects of the drug upon the vocal organs is prom- inent.

Causticum has caused dryness in the larynx ; burning and rough- ness in the throat with hoarseness ; rawness in the chest ; hoarseness for many days ; she was unable to utter a word ; the muscles of the larynx cannot be used ; in spite of all efforts he is unable to utter a loud word ; catarrh with cough and rawness of the throat ; hawking up of mucus ; cough with tickling in the throat and roughness with- out any discharge^ violent, long-continued cough at night; shortness

076 CAUSTICUM.

of breath previous to a fit of cough commencing ; soreness of the chest when coughing ; cough with rattling in the chest, as if there were much mucus ; difficult and deep inspirations ; oppression of the chest, with hoarseness and roughness of the throat ; violent stitches in the chest.

These symptoms indicate the use of causticum in cough with tickling in the throat, worse at night, sounding as if there were mucus in the chest, but usually without being able to ex- pectorate ; hoarseness. It is claimed that the involuntary and forci- ble emission of urine during the paroxysms is the keynote to the- remedy in these difficulties.

Bronchitis and croup often present many of the symptoms pre- viously considered.

URINARY AND SEXUAL GROUP.

The sum total of the urinary symptoms of casticum goes to prove- that its most marked and constant effect is the production of an atonic condition of the bladder, lessening its power to retain its con- tents and causing involuntary emission of urine. The urine is ex- pelled with but little force ; there is a frequent desire to evacuate the- bladder ; and at times we find pain during the act, and the urine itself red, depositing a red sediment if left undisturbed. These symptoms indicate its use in

ENURESIS of aged people and of children, in which condition clinical experience verifies the correctness of the proving. We find some of the symptoms mentioned in

ENLARGEMENT OF THE PROSTATE GLAND ; and while-

CAUSTICUM. 677

EXANTHEMATOUS GEOUP.

Causticum causes : itching of the whole body, especially at night, with dry heat, particularly about the head and face. Itching relieved by scratching. Fine, stinging itching, as if caused by fleas ; redness, like scarlatina, and a number of vesicles. Eruption of pimples on many places- of the skin, characterized by a corrosive itching, with a burning sensation after scratching.

Nodosities on the skin. Erup- tions of the size of a pin's head, with a hollow tip, without any fluid, on the forehead, nape of the neck, scapula?, arms, abdomen, .especially on the thighs and in the bends of the knees ; they itch and .are made worse by warmth ; scratching causes a burning sensation in them ; when the parts are not warm, they are scarcely visible under the cuticle, of a whitish color ; when scratched, they come out quickly, and when scratched open, they leave red spots of a larger size.

Injuries of the skin which had already been healed, become sore again and begin to suppurate. Hence we use this remedy in skin affections, presenting similar symptoms, such as : scrofulous eruptions ; psoriasis scrotatis ; excoriations of the skin ; soreness between the legs ; pemphigus; ecthyma; scabies papulosa ; herpetic eruptions ; warts ; burns, especially if they affect the deeper tissues and refuse to heal, or after healing, become sore and raw again.

The sleep of causticum is fitful, unref reshing ; disturbed by shift- ing pains and unpleasant dreams, causing frequent starting from sleep, as if frightened.

The sexual instinct is not active ; there may exist a decided aver- sion to persons of the opposite sex.

678 CEDRON.

CEDROK

«

Concerning this agent, we read the following in Teste's Materia Medica:

"On his arrival at Panama, Mr. Hellert was able to procure the cedron, which had been represented to him as an infallible anti- dote against the bites of the poisonous serpents of the countries ad- joining the equator. He soon was given an opportunity to try the antidote on his own person. In one of his excursions in the Cordil- leras of Veraguas, while turning over a fragment of rock, he was bitten in the right leg by a coral snake, the most poisonous snake on. the isthmus of Panama.

During the few seconds which it took him to take the antidote out of the little bag which he wore susjoended round his neck, he was seized with violent pains at the heart and throat; but he had scarcely chewed and swallowed a small portion of cedron, of the size of a small bean, when the paius ceased as by magic. An oppression and general prostration remained. He chewed another portion of the same fruit, and applied it to the wound externally, and, in another quarter of an hour, all he felt was a slight colic, which disappeared after eating a little.

This colic was followed almost immediately by a copious evacuation of a substance that looked like curdled milk, white, with a slightly yellowish tint.

"Thirteen months afterward, six natives, while clearing a piece of ground in the neighborhood of Panama, were likewise bitten by a coral snake. Two took the antidote and were saved; the other four- omitted to take it, and died in about five minutes in the most horri- ble convulsious.

" Hellert tells us that he employed the cedron several times on himself and others for the endemic intermittent fevers of Panama, and always with the best success, whereas quinine frequently re- mained unattended with any good result under similar circumstances.

"It is on the faith of these simple data that Dr. Petroz and myself have given cedron in some cases of intermittent nervous diseases, and.

CEDRON. 079

have found it to act with wonderful efficacy, whereas a number of medicines had been tried without any effect."

The medicine being taken by the healthy prover, was followed by

1. A certain state of mental excitement, and augmentation of vital energy; florid face, and a sensation of heat throughout the body; full and strong pulse ; more or less perspiration and no thirst. This group lasted from twenty to forty minutes in some, and disap- peared after that time to return no more, without any other abnormal manifestation in their health ; whilst in others, the symptoms were prolonged from one to two hours, and were followed by

2. Depressed spirits ; dullness of the senses, and torpor of the mental faculties ; general debility, languor and faintings in some. When these symptoms are followed by those of the first group, the phenomena of both sets are often repeated, and at certain intervals of time; but neither of the two occur periodically, unless when they are together.' Nor are they absolutely concomitant to pyrexia; for the paroxysms generally take place without them, as in the natural disease. * * * Whenever pyrexia occurs, or follows that condi- tion, the symptoms, after weakness of the body and mind are as fol- lows :

3. Great thirst ; yawning ; cramps and painful feelings of con- traction in the lower extremities ; cold sensation in the hands and feet ; chills and shivering of the whole body ; palpitation of the heart ; pulse weak and oppressed ; hurried respiration ; chattering of the teeth and shaking of the whole body ; scanty and highly-colored urine ; slight nausea in some, with yellow color of the skin and face in others ; great debility ; dilated pupils and confused sight. These symptoms lasted from one to two hours, and varied much in their intensity ; after which

"The apyrexia generally lasted from 15 to 17 hours, after which,

680 CHAMOMILLA MATRICARIA.

and in about the same time as the previous day, the paroxyms were repeated as per group 3d, and continued almost quotidian."

" The chief characteristic of this remedy is a periodicity which is often cloch-lihe in its regularity."

INTERMITTENT FEVER— This agent has been found useful in intermittent fever, occurring in low, marshy regions, in warm seasons and in tropical countries. " The debility is almost as marked as in china, but appears to be more due to the action on the brain and nervous system than to the effect of the profuse perspiration which is so characteristic of the latter. * * * The chill or chilliness predominates, but in no stage of the paroxysm is ' clear cut' or well-marked. With the chill, there is chilliness and heat, or hot flashes, or hot hands, or red face and congestion of the head, particularly of the meninges.

During heat, shivering, shaking, cold hands and nose. During sweat, coldness and heat, and heat and sweat, irregularly intermingled.,, (Allen on Intermittent Fever.) In

FACIAL NEURALGIA, with well-marked periodicity and arising from malarial influences, and characterized by flying heat in the face, alternating with chills, this remedy has done some good work.