Bryonia Alba

Apathy, Ranging From Languor To Torpor

2. Relief from rest and aggravation from motion.

Sharp, Stitching Pains

4. Relief of all conditions, except the headache and eye symptoms, by warmth.

5. The seat of any distress or irritation becomes sore and tender to the touch.

Give in brief the indications for Bryonia in typhoid fever.

Soreness over the body ; tired feeling, every exertion fatigues ; he has a dread of all motion ; a splitting, agonizing, frontal headache, worse from motion ; the face gets red towards evening, nose-bleed in the morning, preceded by a fullness in the head ; the sleep is troubled and the patient dreams of business, and there is high fever ; delirium ; patient wants to go home.

How is Rhus tox. distinguished from Bryonia in all affections ?

Rhus tox . has restlessness and desire to continually move about.

What is the mental condition of Bryonia ?

The patient is irritable and ill-humored, and there may be a delirium, in which the patient thinks he is away from home and wants to go home ; he talks about his business.

What is the headache of Bryonia ?

An intense, dull, throbbing headache, pain in and over the eyes ; greatly increased by motion.

Splitting frontal headache, extending backward and down neck, shoulders and back.

How do Silicea, Carbo Veg., and Spigelia compare ?

Spigelia has pain darting from behind forward through the left eye ball.

Silicea has pain coming up from the nape of neck, through the occiput and so down upon the forehead.

Carbo veg . has dull, heavy pain extending through the base of the brain from the occiput to the supra-orbital region.

Bryonia is the only drug having sticking, jerking, throbbing headache from the forehead backward to the occiput.

What is the characteristic thirst of Bryonia ?

Intense thirst for large quantities of cold water at long intervals.

What drug has thirst for small quantities at short intervals ?

Arsenicum. China is similar.

What of the digestive symptoms ?

Food distresses the patient as soon as he takes it ; it lies in the stomach like a hard load ; there is white or yellowish-white coating on the tongue ; there is a faint weak feeling on sitting up.

What is the constipation of this drug ?

It is due to dryness, and the stools are large, hard, dry and brown, as if burnt, with no urging.

What other drug has constipation due to dryness, and how is it distinguished from Bryonia ?

Alumina : here there is a complete inactivity of the rectum, and even a soft stool is expelled with difficulty.

In pleurisy what would be the indications for Bryonia ?

Sharp, stitching pains in the chest ; worse from the slightest motion ; patient often holds chest with the hands while coughing ; there is apt to be fever, headache and also chilliness.

What are its indications in pneumonia ?

There are the pleuritic pains, the hard, dry cough, the scanty, tenacious, rust-colored expectoration, circumscribed redness of the cheeks, and we have the physical signs of hepatization. Relief from lying on affected side.

Mention a drug useful in respiratory affections that has aggravation from lying on left side, whether affected or not.

Phosphorus .

How does Aconite compare here ?

Bryonia comes in after Aconite when the skin is not so hot, nor the face so red, nor the patient so restless, and the cough is not so dry and teasing ; then, too, with Aconite we have the anxious expression of pulmonary congestion.

Mention some other remedies with stitching pains in the chest.

Ranunculus bulb., Kali carb., Rumex and Senega .

What are the indications for Bryonia in rheumatic troubles ?

Articular rheumatism with swollen joints, which are very sensitive to the touch ; the slightest motion is intolerable ; the joints are hot and shining, the skin looks as if stretched over them ; external heat greatly relieves ; it has but little tendency to shift about.

What drugs have rheumatism which tends to shift about ?

Pulsatilla, Colchicum, Caulophyllum and Benzoic acid .

Is Bryonia a liver remedy ?

If so, what are the indications ?

It is ; there are sharp, stitching pains in the liver, worse from motion, relieved by lying on the right side ; jaundice from duodenal catarrh or when caused by anger indicates it.

Is Bryonia ever useful in diarrhoea ?

Diarrhoea provoked by vegetable foods calls for it, or when overheated in the summer and aggravated by every hot spell of weather ; it is worse in the morning on rising and moving around ; the stools are pasty or dark green ; involuntary discharge of thin stool in the night, while sleeping.

What are the female symptoms of the drug ?

Suppressed menstruation, with sharp, stitching pains, or vicarious, showing itself as nosebleed, or accompanied by the splitting headache of the drug ; also suppressed lochia with this headache.

What of its use in milk fever ?

The breasts are hard and tender, there is chilliness, headache, fever, coated tongue, bitter taste and aching in the back and limbs.

When should Bryonia be given in measles ?

When the rash appears slowly, and when it is apt to run a balky course, and when inflammatory diseases of the chest accompany. Dry, hard, painful cough.

What are the relations of Rhus tox. and Bryonia ?

They follow each other well, but are antidotal if given together.