Gratiola Officinalis
Gratiola · Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 13,020 χαρακτήρες · πηγή ↗
General EN
Gratiola.
Gratiola officinalis. Hedge Hyssop. "The Herb of Grace." N. O. Scrophulariaceae (grows in moist places). Tincture of fresh plant before flowering.
Clinical EN
Cholera. Coccygodynia. Constipation. Cramps. Diarrhoea. Dropsy. Eyes, affections of. Gastralgia. Gout. Haemorrhoids. Headache. Hydrocephalus. Hypochondriasis. Hysteria. Mania. Masturbation. Mesenteric glands, affections of. Neuralgia. Nymphomania. Tetanus. Vision, disordered.
Characteristics EN
Gratiola is one of the most important members of the great Scrophularian group—Digit., Euphras., Tabac., Scroph.—and should be carefully studied with these. A large proportion of the effects of Gratiola are expended on the gastro-intestinal tract. It is an inodorous plant, of bitter taste, and very poisonous, causing violent colic, diarrhoea, bloody stools, enteritis, jaundice, trembling of extremities, convulsions, cramps, excitement and disordered condition of the sexual powers, and death.
Symptoms of a fully developed, rapid attack of Asiatic cholera are produced. On the other hand, the mind is strongly affected. Peevishness, ill-humour; irresolute; hysterical; cerebral affections without fever. It is useful in mental troubles from overweening pride.
Teste considers Gratiola the Chamom. of chronic diseases. There is < during and after eating: vertigo during and after a meal. Hunger after a meal with feeling of emptiness. The diarrhoea is yellowish, gushing, watery, as though rushing from a hydrant.
There is also vomiting of yellowish fluid. Summer diarrhoea from excessive drinking of water whether cold or hot. Soreness, burning or irritation of anus follows the stools. Two excellent cures with Gratiola have been recorded by C.
W. Sonnenschmidt (H. R., xi. 547). (1) Mrs.
C., 53, attacked in June with diarrhoea; yellow, watery, frothy stools gushing out with force. Severe cutting pains in abdomen; rumbling of flatulence. Occasional nausea and vomiting. Coloc. and Ipec. failed to relieve; then on close inquiry it was elicited that "a cold feeling in the abdomen" had been a feature throughout.
Grat. off. 3, cured promptly. (2) A three-weeks' old infant was attacked with diarrhoea and colic. There were two or three passages in quick succession, and then an interval of an hour or two. Passages green or yellow, watery, frothy, expelled suddenly; nausea, vomiting, severe pain before stools, relieved after, for a short time.
Cham., Coloc., Verat. failed and Grat. rapidly cured. It also removed in this case "redness around anus, and on one side an abrasion of half an inch in extent, which caused some oozing of blood." E. E. Case (Med.
Adv., xxix. 343) cured a woman, aet. 50, of haemorrhoids with the following symptoms: (1) Constipation, difficult stools. (2) External piles from any exertion and after stool. (3) Biting, stinging tension in tumours. (4) During stool, a sensation as if the rectal membrane was torn.
(5) After stool, all the nerves of the pelvis seem in a high state of tension; the flesh on the perineum feels as if torn from the bone. [Compare "Wrenching pain in coccyx."] Sleepless before midnight; peevish; melancholy. Grat. 200 cured. Cooper has used it with great success in a case of gouty acidity with great constipation; and in the constipation of cancer. He regards it as "the vegetable antacid." It is said to have formed the basis for a once famous nostrum for gout, "Eau Médicinale." Indications are: Constant sinking but cannot eat; bitter taste.
The affection of the solar plexus is very marked; cramps beginning at pit of stomach, and pains radiating therefrom; anxiety; gnawing; empty feeling; rolling about in epigastric region. Urine is diminished, reddish, turbid. Buvier, says Teste, saw four cases of nymphomania in females to whom herb-doctors had given injections of a decoction of freshly gathered Gratiola. Burnett considers it specific in female masturbation and nymphomania.
A number of pains are experienced in the coccyx. Chilly; shuddering on entering a warm room. Heat ascending to face, with redness and increased external warmth. Constant vaporous exhalation from body.
Sensations: as if brain contracted; as if head grew smaller; as if brain would fall forward; as if sand in eyes; as if throat contracted; as if a stone rolling from side to side in stomach. The left side is more affected than the right. The head and eye symptoms are of the first importance. Rush of blood to head with vanishing of sight I consider a keynote.
With Grat. 30. I cured this symptom in a patient: "Sometimes everything seems to assume a yellowish tint, and occasionally, when I have been taking notes, a rush of blood to my head seems to shut the book from my sight and for the moment I have been unable to follow the speaker by writing although I could by thought." Motion <; rest >. > In open air; < in warm room (some headaches, and vertigo have the opposite modality).
Coffee = neuralgia.
Relations EN
Antidoted by: Caust., Bell., Euphorb., Nux v. It antidotes: Iodum. Compare: Apis, Bell., Helleb., Cham., Nux v., Elat., Pod. Hunger after meals with feeling of emptiness, Lauro., Calc., Cascaril., Chi., Cin.; (emptiness after stool, Petrol.); vanishing of sight and headache, Gels.; botanical, Dig., Euphr., Scroph.
Causation EN
Abuse of coffee.
Mind EN
Serious, taciturn, absorbed in reverie
Self-concentration
Irresolute, want of perseverance
Ill-humour, tired of life, apprehensive of the future; hysteria; hypochondriasis
Loquacity and gaiety.
Head EN
Whirling vertigo on shutting the eyes
Vertigo when reading, and when seated, as if the head were waving backwards and forwards
Headache, with nausea and drowsiness
Intoxicated feeling during and after a meal
Rush of blood to the head and feeling as if intoxicated in whole brain
Violent rush of blood to head, with throbbing in forehead amounting to vertigo, with blackness before the eyes;
< by motion, esp. riding, increasing even to loss of consciousness, only disappearing after several hours' sleep
Pressive headache, esp. in the forehead and occiput
Lancinating and pulsative headache
Sensation of heaviness in the forehead, as if the brain would fall forward, with stoppage of the nose
Sensation as if the head were shrinking from contraction of the brain
Sudden attack; sudden vibration in the head, which suspends the senses of sight and hearing
The headache is < when rising from a seat, during movement, and while walking in the open air
The head is very sensitive to cold
Heat in the head, on raising the head
Tightness in the forehead with wrinkles in the skin.
Eyes EN
Itching, quivering, and sensation of weakness in eyelids
Itching of eyelashes
The eyes feel dry and as if sand were in them
Burning pain and pressure on the eyes
Eyes watery and weak when reading
Mist before eyes, when reading or writing
Myopia on reading
Sees distant objects better than near ones
While writing, or looking at light objects, sight suddenly vanishes;
> by closing eyes, but constantly returns
All objects seem white on opening the eyes, even green trees and turf.
Ears EN
Tearing and shootings in ears.—Itching of the ears.
Nose EN
Frequent sneezings, with shootings in l. side of the chest and of the hypochondria
Stoppage of the nose
Smarting-itching in l. nostril
Pressure at upper part of nose.
Face EN
Burning heat and redness of the face
Tingling-burning in malar bones
Sensation of tension in the face; it feels swollen
Swelling of upper lip (every morning, with stinging)
Tearing on one side of face
Painful crack in l. side of chin.
Teeth EN
Nocturnal tearing or piercing in the molars.—Sensation of cold in the teeth.
Mouth EN
Accumulation of much saliva in the mouth
Accumulation of clear water in the mouth
Mouth bitter or clammy
Tongue rough, covered with mucus
Fetid breath in the morning after waking.
Throat EN
Pressure in throat, as from thick mucus
Accumulation of mucus in throat
Pain in throat obliging one to swallow constantly; the swallowing is difficult, as if the throat were contracted;
< during empty deglutition
Stinging in throat (l. side)
Tingling, roughness, and scraping in throat
Phlegm in throat, with inability to throw it off.
Appetite EN
Gnawing, as from hunger after eating
Constant sinking at epigastrium, but cannot eat
Hunger, sometimes with loathing and horror of all food
Increased thirst.
Stomach EN
Bitter or sweetish risings
Ineffectual efforts to eructate, with pressure from stomach to throat, which suspends respiration
Empty or cold feeling in stomach
Hiccough
Regurgitation of bitter water
Constant nausea, with retching
Nausea, with cold in the abdomen
Vomiting, with stoppage of the nose
Bilious vomiting, or vomiting of acid or bitter substances
Uneasiness, and sensation of fulness in stomach
Pressure on the stomach after a meal, with nausea
Searching and digging in the stomach, with inclination to vomit
Pressure on the epigastrium after a meal, as from a stone; which moves back and forth
The sufferings of the stomach and of the epigastrium are often accompanied by nausea, or ineffectual efforts at eructation
Paroxysms of inclination to vomit, > by eructations
Rolling about in epigastrium.
Abdomen EN
Shooting pains in the abdomen
Beatings in l. hypochondrium (heating pain, burning)
Pressive pain in abdomen, with pinchings (in umbilical region), which force the patient to bend double (> by the emission of flatulence)
Inflation of the abdomen
Flatulent and pressive colic, with nausea and disagreeable risings
Rumbling, with nausea, eructation, and vertigo
Feeling of coldness in abdomen, lasting half all hour.
Stool And Anus EN
Urgent and fruitless want to evacuate
Constipation
Faeces, hard, scanty, and tenacious, expelled with great effort
Nocturnal slimy diarrhoea, with tenesmus
Diarrhoea: stools, watery yellow-green, succeeded by burning at the anus; green frothy, coming out with great force
Stools with burning and protrusion of large stinging-burning tumours
Passage of faeces without being conscious of it
Discharge of ascarides
Pain, as from excoriation in the rectum
Burning pain in the rectum, during and after the evacuation
Shootings, itching, smarting, and throbbing in the anus
Blind haemorrhoids.
Urinary Organs EN
Diminished secretion of urine
Scanty and reddish urine, which becomes turbid on standing, with cloudy sediment
Burning in the urethra during and after micturition.
Male Sexual Organs EN
Stitches in l. spermatic cord, ascending through the abdomen up to the chest
Painful rigidity of the penis after pollutions
Drawing pain in glans.
Female Sexual Organs EN
Catamenia premature, too profuse, and of too long duration
Masturbation
Nymphomania
Irritable condition of sexual organs, with congestions
Shootings in r. breast, < on rising, during menses.
Respiratory Organs EN
Dry cough, excited by a sensation of roughness in the chest, esp. in the morning or at night
Nocturnal cough, with pain as from excoriation in the trachea, oppression of the chest and shivering
Choking when ascending.
Chest EN
Heat in the chest, then the head and hands, with redness of the face
Pressure on the chest
Shootings in the chest on breathing
Pimples on the chest, which burn after having been scratched.
Heart EN
Palpitation of the heart.—Violent palpitation, particularly immediately after a stool, and with oppression of the chest.
Neck And Back EN
Sensation as if the neck were seized with the hands
Darting from the l. scapula to the shoulder and mamma
Sticking pain in lower dorsal vertebrae; in r. kidney
Bruised pain in loins
Painful cramps in coccyx
Pressive or wrenching pain in coccyx after stool.
Upper Limbs EN
Rheumatic pains in the shoulders, arms, fingers, particularly in elbow and wrist-joint.—Itching in the palm of the (r.) hand.
Lower Limbs EN
Bruised pain in the thigh, after a short walk
Lancinating tearing in tibia when sitting, disappearing when walking
Smarting itching on tibia
Shootings in legs and feet.
Generalities EN
Tearing in the limbs.—Tetanus, with full consciousness while lying down after a meal, followed by a deep sleep with emission of semen; bruised feeling of the body, back and l. arm on waking.—The majority of symptoms appear at night, or when sitting, and after rising from a seat, or in the open air; contact > them.—Great languor and prostration.—Great loquacity and gaiety.
Skin EN
Itching with burning after scratching.—Running and corrosive eruptions, which resemble scabies.
Sleep EN
Irresistible drowsiness with yawning
Great drowsiness, with frequent yawning and inclination to lie down, esp. in the afternoon
Deep sleep, like stupor.
Fever EN
Pulse small, intermittent
Great tendency to chilliness
Chilliness in a warm room, during sleep, after an evacuation; with the hair standing on end
Heat ascending to the face, with redness and increased external warmth
Constant vaporous exhalation from the body.