Ipecacuanha

On the strength of this symptom of Hahnemann's, "external chilliness with internal heat," Mahony gave Ipec. 200 to an army sergeant, 49, invalided for aneurism, who had this symptom while recovering from a catarrhal attack: coldness of hands and feet not perceptible to himself.

Ipec. soon removed this.

(Med.

Adv., xxvi. 110).

J.

R.

Haynes (quoted B.

J.

H., xxxvii. 203) uses Ipec. as an antidote to the Opium and Morphia habit.

He gives five drops of Ipec. Ø for every grain of Morphia (or its equivalent in Opium) which the patient has been accustomed to take.

When a definite sequence is observed in the order of occurrence of symptoms this is of great practical importance.

Woodward (Hahn.

Adv., May, 1900, p. 278) has noted in twenty-three provers the symptoms of Ipec. develop in this order: (1) Gastric;

(2) Respiratory;

(3) Spinal;

(4) Genito-urinary;

(5) Cutaneous.

In several instances, however, the cutaneous symptoms appeared before the genito-urinary.

Owing to its immediate expulsive effect, given internally, upon the mucous membrane, its influence upon the skin has not been sufficiently considered.

Mixed with oil, powdered Ipec. has been used to vesicate the skin; and, diluted, the tincture is used for the bites of insects, bee- and wasp-stings, &c.

It produces violent irritation of the skin, and between the acts of vomiting an uncontrollable desire to scratch is often felt in those under the influence of material doses.

Cooper cured an immense uterine fibroid where persistent painful irritation of the skin with constant retching and vomiting, made worse by eating, constituted the prominent symptom.

Frightful irritation inside and out, especially vaginal, with thick leucorrhoea, and a feeling of desperation, yields to Ipec.

Ipec. has been used locally and internally for malignant pustule and anthrax, in which disease Dr.

Edwin Muskett considers it specific (Alleg.

Hom.

Zeitung., No. 23, Dec., 1888).

In certain forms of peripheral neuritis it deserves more consideration than has hitherto been allotted to it (Cooper).

In consequence of its proved cholagogue action, it constitutes nowadays a very frequent constituent of allopathic pills.

Ipec. has much of the sensitiveness of Chi

There is < by touch.

Over-sensitiveness to heat and cold.

< In winter and dry weather.

< In warm, moist wind (catarrh, asthma, &c.).

Chill is < in warm room; by external heat.

Summer heat or hot room = fainting.

Drinking > chill.

Cold water > spasmodic cough.

Cold drinks or ice-creams = colic.

< Periodically; by vomiting; by coughing; by suppression of eruptions.

< From veal from rich food (pork, fat, pastry); from ices.; lemon-peel; raisins salads, < By eating.

< From abuse of quinine.

< By motion.

> By rest; by pressure; by closing eyes.

Ipec., according to Hahnemann, is a short-acting medicine.

It is specially suited to stout persons of lax fibre; to fair people; to women and children to emphysematous persons; to persons who have a history of epistaxis or other blood-loss.

Cannot endure the least noise

Cries and howling (of children)

Anxiety and fear of death

Moroseness, with contempt for everything

Disdainful humour

Desire for a number of things, without knowing exactly which

Irritability, and disposition to be angry

Ailments from mortification or vexation, with indignation

Impatience

Slowness of conception.

Vertigo when walking, and when turning round, with tottering and staggering

Pain, as of a bruise, in all the bones of the head, as far as the root of the tongue (with nausea and vomiting)

Headache as of a bruise of the brain and skull, which pierces through all the cranial bones into roots of teeth, with nausea

As if brain compressed

Attacks of headache, with nausea and vomiting

Tearing in the forehead, excited or aggravated by being touched

Lancinating headache, with heaviness of the head

Stitches in the vertex (or forehead)

Painful pressure on the forehead

Pain in the occiput and nape of the neck

Hydrocephaloid.

Eyes red and inflamed

Neuralgia of eyes, esp. r., extended to nose and mouth; in evening biting and pressure in eyes; he was awakened between 2 and 3 a.m. by tearing pains in eyes, esp. r., radiating to forehead and driving him out of bed, < from strong light, accompanied by chilliness, heat, sweat

Eyelids closed, painful expression of face; the pillow was soaked with tears which flowed freely on opening r. eye

Twitching of l. upper lid with three black spots before sight on lifting lid

Scrofulous ophthalmia, pain in forehead and temples, photophobia and corneal ulceration

Conjunctiva rose-coloured; cornea opaque; sight gone from r. eye, could not read, evening, from being dazzled by candle-light, which appeared multiplied five or six times; next morning fiery iridescent rings before l. eye, which had been less affected

Humour in the corners of the eyes

Trembling of the eyelids

Twitching of the eyelids

Hardened mucus in the external canthi

Pupils dilated

Confused sight.

Epistaxis

Loss of smell

Coryza, with stoppage of the nose.

Pale, earthy, or yellowish colour of the face, which is bloated, with livid circles round the eyes

Convulsive startings of the muscles of the face

Lips covered with small aphthae and eruptions

Rash in the face

Fine branny eruption on face, with or without irritation

Pityriasis

Pain, as from excoriation, in the lips

Convulsive startings of the lips

Redness of the skin round the mouth.

Odontalgia by fits, as if a tooth were being extracted

Toothache > while eating;

< afternoon and night

Toothache < by day; pain every few minutes with a jerk radiating into r. temple and nose, as if tooth being extracted

The neuralgic pains of Ipec. and of Viol. od. often make for r. temple (Cooper)

Dentition.

Painful sensibility of all parts of the mouth

Smarting in mouth and on (margins of) tongue

Copious secretion of saliva

Constantly obliged to swallow saliva

Saliva runs from mouth on lying down

Tongue: clean; white or yellow; pale.

Sore throat, during deglutition, as from swelling of the pharynx

Difficult deglutition, as from paralysis of the tongue and of the gullet

Spasmodic contractive sensation in the throat

Fauces, stinging, rough, sore, and dry.

Insipid and clammy, or bitter taste, esp. in the morning

Sweetish taste, as of blood in the mouth

Desire only for delicacies and things sweetened with sugar

Want of appetite; the stomach feels relaxed

Bad effects from eating pork, veal, &c

Gastric catarrh from indigestible food, or from ice-cold things

Adipsia

Beer has an insipid taste

Tobacco smoke is nauseous, and causes vomiting

Great repugnance and dislike to all food

Water-brash.

Nausea, as if proceeding from the stomach, with copious salivation, violent itching in the skin, and empty risings

Retching, esp. after drinking anything cold, or after smoking

Vomiting of drink, and of undigested food; or else of bilious, greenish, or acid, or mucous, gelatinous matter, sometimes immediately after a meal

Vomiting of blood

Vomiting, with sweat, heat, fetid breath, and thirst

Vomiting with diarrhoea

Vomiting on stooping

Vomiting of black matter, like pitch

Sensation of excessive uneasiness in the stomach and epigastrium

Horrid, indescribable pain and sick feeling in the stomach

Sensation, as if the stomach were empty and flaccid

Swelling in the region of the stomach

Pinching round the epigastrium and in the region of the hypochondria

Pressure on the stomach with vomiting.

Cutting and pinching in the abdomen (as from a hand, each finger sharply pressing into intestines), < in the highest degree by movement, > by repose

Pinching pain in both hypochondria, and in region of pit of stomach

Pain, as from excoriation in the abdomen

Colic, with agitation, tossing, and cries (in children)

Colic, with cramp-like pains

Incisive pains, in the umbilical region, with shuddering

Flatulent colic, with frequent diarrhoeic stools

Colic of strangulated hernia.

Loose evacuations, like matter in a state of fermentation (like yeast)

Obstinate diarrhoea

Loose evacuations, greenish, or yellow- (lemon-) coloured, of a putrid smell, or sanguineous, bilious, and mucous

Stools: grassy-green; of white mucus

Loose serous evacuations

Diarrhoea, with nausea, colic (and vomiting)

Autumnal diarrhoea; much griping about the navel

Diarrhoea of children inclining to dysentery

Dysenteric evacuations, with white flocks, and followed by tenesmus

Evacuation of black matter like pitch

Haemorrhoids bleed profusely

Itching of anus.

Turbid urine, with sediment like brick-dust

Red and scanty urine

Unsuccessful urging to urinate

Sanguineous urine, with pains in the region of the bladder, and of the navel, burning sensation in the urethra, inclination to vomit, and pain in the loins and in the pit of the stomach

Discharge of pus from the urethra, with biting pain.

Troublesome sensation, as of bearing down towards the genital parts, and towards the anus

Menstruation too early and too profuse

Metrorrhagia, with discharge of bright red and coagulated blood, with oppressed breathing

Metrorrhagia, much depression and pain in r. half of head; soreness about womb and pain in l. hip and back; weight across forehead, and phlegm in back of throat, causing sickness; skin yellowish and very irritable, dark round eyes (cured)

Steady flow of bright red blood after confinement

In labour and threatened miscarriage pains fly from l. to r., with nausea

Catamenia premature, and too thick

Stitches from navel to uterus.

Cough, esp. at night, with painful shocks in the head and stomach, and with loathing, retching, and vomiting

Cough catching the breath, even to suffocation; during the attacks the child gets quite stiff, its face blue.

It is excited by a contractive tickling sensation extending from upper part of larynx to lowest part of bronchial tubes;

< on walking in cold air; on retiring; in morning and evening; on taking a deep breath.

Accompanied by cold, as if the navel would be torn out; pains in abdomen like strangury; heat in head and face.

The cough causes vomiting without nausea

Rattling noise in the bronchial tubes when drawing breath

Dry cough, excited by a contractive tickling in the larynx (particularly in the upper part), extending to the extremity of the bronchia, esp. when lying on l. side

Cough, which resembles whooping-cough, with bleeding from the nose and mouth, and vomiting of food

Cough, with spitting of blood, provoked by the least effort

Spasmodic cough, dry, shaking, with fits of suffocation, stiffness of the body, and bluish face

Cough as from vapour of sulphur, with expectoration of blood with mucus in the morning

Suffocative cough in the evening; continuous cough with perspiration on the forehead, shocks in the head, retching and vomiting

Anxious and short respiration

Quick, anxious breathing

The breath smells fetid

Suffocative attacks in the room;

> in the open air

Whooping-cough; every fresh attack sets in with a long-drawn, difficult, howling, sighing inspiration

Spasmodic asthma, with contraction of the larynx, and panting respiration

Sighing respiration.

Oppression of the chest, and shortness of breath, as if dust had been inhaled

Loss of breath on the least movement

Spasms in the chest

Pain, as of excoriation in the chest

Palpitation of the heart

Red itching spots on the chest, with burning after scratching.

Swelling and suppuration in the throat-pit

Cramp pain between the scapulae during motion

Tetanic stiffness and bending of the back, backwards or forwards.

Convulsive startings of the legs and of the feet (not in the upper limbs)

Pain, as from dislocation, in the hip-joint, when sitting

Nocturnal cramps in the muscles of the thigh, with lumps in the thighs

Violent itching in the calves of the legs

Ulcers, with black bases on the legs, and on the foot.

Miliary eruptions, violent itching in the skin (of the thighs and of the arms)

During the nausea the patient is forced to scratch himself, until relieved by vomiting

Rash (in lying-in women); suppressed rash.

Sleeplessness

Sleep, with the eyes half open

Agitated sleep, with groans

During sleep, starting of the limbs

Frightful dreams, with frequent starts and terror during sleep.

Pulse very frequent, but at times scarcely perceptible

Shuddering, with coldness in the limbs and in the face

Chill of short duration and soon changing to heat

Coldness, esp. in the hands and feet, with cold and copious perspiration on those parts

External chilliness with internal heat

Aggravation of the shivering from external heat

Internal chilliness, as if under the skin, < from heat

Before the shiverings, uneasiness, stretching, and lassitude, with cold sweat on the forehead, or coldness, or shivering, in the ears

Sudden heat in a room, with sweat and vertigo

Thirst during the shivering or coldness

Fever, manifesting itself by much shivering, with little heat, or by much heat with little shivering; or with nausea, vomiting, and other gastric symptoms, tongue clean or loaded, and constrictive oppression of the chest

Fever in the evening, with great inquietude, dry and troublesome heat, burning in the palms of the hands, and nocturnal sweat

After a short chill dry heat, with parchment-like skin

During the heat no thirst

Perspiration smelling sour (with turbid urine)

Intermittent fever; nausea and vomiting predominate; slight chills are followed by much heat, with thirst and no subsequent perspiration, consequent upon the abuse of quinine; slight chilliness without thirst, afterwards violent heat, with thirst, nausea and vomiting, dyspnoea, stitches in the chest, finally copious perspiration

Damp coldness of the hands and feet.