Laurocerasus
Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 20,139 χαρακτήρες · πηγή ↗
General EN
Laurocerasus.
Cerasus laurocerasus. Common Laurel. Prunus laurocerasus. Cherry Laurel. N. O. Rosaceae. Tincture of young leaves. Dilutions of Aqua Laurocerasi.
Clinical EN
Apoplexy, threatened. Asphyxia, neonatorum. Asthma. Cholera. Cholera infantum. Chorea. Climacteric sufferings. Convulsions.
Cough EN
Cramps.
Cyanosis.
Diarrhoea.
Dysmenorrhoea.
Epilepsy.
Heart, affections of.
Liver, affections of.
Metrorrhagia.
Palpitation.
Pneumonia, typhoid.
Tetanus.
Tumours.
Whooping-cough.
Characteristics EN
Laurocerasus, the so-called "Laurel" of our gardens, is not a member of the Lauraceae, though the Bay Laurel, Laurus nobilis, is. The Aqua Laurocerasi, prepared by distilling the fresh leaves, contains Hydrocyanic acid and is supposed to owe all its medicinal virtue to this fact. Milne says it is "used in spasmodic cough, and in phthisis; but it is better to employ the prussic acid itself." In the poisoning cases that have occurred the symptoms have been practically identical with those of persons poisoned with prussic acid; but the provings bring out more delicate shades of action and fully entitle the remedy to an individual place of its own.
Coldness, blueness, epileptiform convulsions are common to both. Both have a dry, tickling cough; but Lauro. has also a cough with jelly-like expectoration dotted with bloody points. Lauro. has cyanosis both of the new-born infant and of heart disease. A peculiar "gasping" is indicative here—gasping without really breathing.
In addition to the blueness there is twitching of the muscles of the face (which is also an indication for Lauro. in chorea). Clubbing of fingers, which is a common feature in cyanosis and phthisis, is a characteristic of Lauro. "Lack of reactive power," low vitality, is another keynote of Lauro. This is particularly so when occurring in chest affections.
Long-lasting faints (Camph. has sudden fainting); seems to have no reactive power; face pale, blue; surface cold. Prostrate before getting up in morning and difficulty in opening eyes; attacks of indigestion and pains across lower abdomen, which come suddenly in the morning and generally disappear on getting up. Gnawing pain in lower abdomen going on for years in old men with occasional looseness of stool. If fluids are forced down the throat they roll audibly into stomach.
When indicated in eruptive fevers the eruption is livid, after pressure with the finger the skin is long in regaining its colour. There are suffocative spells about the heart < by sitting up; the patient is compelled to lie down (as with Psor.); though some heart symptoms have the opposite condition and compel the patient to sit up. Guernsey gives these leading symptoms: "Gasping for breath; the patient puts his hand to the heart as if there was some trouble there; this may result from running a short distance, which puts him completely out of breath; going upstairs, walking, or any exercise may bring the gasping on." Coldness is a common sensation, internal coldness and external heat.
Cold tongue. Heat of single parts. Warmth on centre of forehead, then a coldness as from a draught of air lasting a long time. The left chest is most affected.
There is < before eating. Constricted sensations—in gullet; in rectum. There are some very noteworthy uterine symptoms, of menorrhagia and dysmenorrhoea, in the provings, and the value of them has been emphasised by cases related by Cooper in his work on Cancer and Cancer Symptoms (2nd ed., p. 60). The leading indications according to Cooper are: "A sense of fatigue pervades the whole system, with a very painful condition of the hard and indurated tissue of the parts affected; pain much > by sleep; tendency to oozing of blood, which is generally bright and mixed with gelatinous clots.
This applies to chest as well as to uterine and rectal symptoms; only, the blood comes painlessly into the mouth, but with great pain Per vaginam. In most cases it will be found that the pains it relieves are such as start from the lower part of the spine and extend either round the pelvis or up to the head, and are accompanied with a sense of suffocation and a sick feeling, with drowsiness and a great desire to sleep that generally brings relief. In cases that are sleepless the desire for sleep is very great.
Digestion is weak; bowels confined patient, low-spirited with flatulence and burning in chest after food constant tired, sick feeling; entire frame enfeebled; inclined to loss of flesh and haemorrhages that are small in quantity and bright in colour. The flatus is audible and gurgling and rolls about the upper abdomen (p. 64)." In nervous affections "constant jerks; cannot keep still" and the characteristic "gasping" are leading indications. Peculiar sensations are: Coolness of forehead as from draught of air.
Weight on top of head. As if brain loose and falling into forehead when stooping. As if a heavy lump falling from abdomen to small of back, as if a veil before eyes. As if nose stopped.
As if flies and spiders crawling over skin. As if tongue, mouth, and throat were burnt. As if abscess in region of liver would burst. As if lungs could not be sufficiently expanded.
As if lungs pressed against spine. As if mucous membranes were dry. Stitches are very prominent; also stiffness and pressure, especially pressure outward. Allen's indications are: An extremely nervous, excitable condition accompanying ailments.
Diarrhoea as of green mucus, with suffocative spells about heart. Dry, harassing cough of phthisis. Spasmodic cough of later stages of whooping-cough when patient is much prostrated and has nervous spasmodic symptoms. Cough with valvular heart disease; cough incessant, especially on lying down; fluttering in heart and gasping, with cough.
Alternation of chill, fever, and sweat in phthisis. E. Wigg (H. P., xii. 30) relates the case of May S., 7, who had been troubled some time with an almost incessant cough, for which many remedies were given without benefit.
At last Wigg came to the conclusion that Lauro. was the remedy, and put ten drops of the 200th into five tablespoonfuls of water, ordering a teaspoonful of this to be taken every two hours when the child was awake. This was at 4 p.m. After the third dose she fell asleep. At 3 a.m. she awoke in a very excited condition.
Her mother asked her if she had not been dreaming, but her tongue was so stiff she could not answer. Suddenly she began to tremble all over as if in a chill. After ten minutes she began to twitch and jerk. Wigg was sent for and found her in this convulsed state.
She could not articulate for the thickness and heaviness of the tongue. The mind was clear. Recognising the action of Lauro. Wigg antidoted it with Camphor and later a cup of coffee, and she came all right in a few hours.
She had no more of the cough. Many symptoms are > sitting up. Coughs continuously when lying down. Bending head forward > pressure in nape.
Compelled to bend forward by contractive pain in groins. On the other hand suffocating spells about heart compel him to lie down. When she attempts to rise from recumbent posture, sensation of heavy lump falling from pit of stomach to back. Stooping <.
Sitting < gasping; = feet to go to sleep. Crossing legs = feet to go to sleep. Motion < cough; = gasping. After dinner: Hunger; irresistible drowsiness.
< Evening and night. Coldness in forehead and vertex is > in open air; vertigo, and pressure in nape are <. External warmth does not > coldness. Approaching stove = nausea; cold.
Being touched by water = burning between fingers.
Relations EN
Antidoted by: Camph., Coff., Ip., Op. Compatible: Bell., Phos., Pul., Ver, Compare: Camph. (coldness; cramps; lack of reaction; fainting—Camph. sudden; Lauro. long-lasting.
Camph. is a product of a true Laurel); Caps. (lack of reaction in persons of lax fibre); Op.
(lack of reaction in patients where there is no pain; stupid, drowsy); Pso. (lack of reaction in chilly, psoric persons, despair of recovery; chest affection > lying down); Sul.
(lack of reaction in hot, perspiring, psoric subjects; chest affections; liver wasted after congestion); Val. and Ambra (lack of reaction in nervous persons); Carb. v. (cold knees, breath, tongue; collapse; indifference);
Lach., Chi., Dig., Ver.; Ant. t. (asphyxia neonatorum; Ant. t. has rattling of mucus, head thrown back;
Lauro. blue face, twitching, gasping); Bar. c., Bell., Bry.; K. ca. (stitches);
Calc., Ip., Nux v.; Op. and Nux in. (drowsiness); Pho., Pul., Rhus, Sep.
Compare also: Hydrocy. ac., and Amyg., Pru. spi., Pru. Virg., and other Rosaceae. In hunger after meals with feeling of emptiness, Calc., Chi., Cascar., Cin., Grat. (after meals and after stool, Petr.); in semilateral swelling of tongue, Calc., Sil., Thuj.
(Lauro. has loss of speech with it).
Causation EN
Fright.
Mind EN
Mental dejection
Great anxiety, apprehension, and agitation, which do not allow a moment's rest, nor yet sleep in evening, but which disappear in open air
Repugnance to intellectual labour
Mental promptitude and precipitation
Inability to collect one's ideas
Weakness of memory
Fear and anxiety about imaginary evils
Intellectual incapacity
Mental dulness (insensibility) and loss of consciousness, with loss of speech and motion
She becomes irritable, talks too much; and then pains in shoulders and arms to tips of fingers come on, and she loses the power to hold things in her hands
Intoxication.
Head EN
Stupefaction, with falling down, and loss of consciousness
Feeling of intoxication and vertigo, with drowsiness
Vertigo, on rising from a stooping posture, or on getting up from a seat, with what appears to be a veil before the sight, or with a sensation as if all objects were turning round
Vertigo < in the open air
Stupefying pain in the whole head
Stupefying headache, with a feeling of weight, and sensation, on stooping, as if the brain fell forwards and struck against the cranium
Brain feels contracted and painful
Stitches in head
Itching of hairy scalp
Very violent pressive headache in a room
Constant feeling of coldness in head
Sensation of coldness in forehead and vertex, as if a cold wind were blowing on it, descending through neck to back;
< in room, > in open air
Feeling as if ice lay on vertex
Congestion in the head, with heat and throbbing
Pulsation in head, with heat or with coldness
The headache disappears, with a sensation of coldness in vertex, forehead, in nape of neck, extending to loins
Headache in r. temple.
Eyes EN
Burning pain in eyes
Dryness of eyes
Eyes widely open, or half-closed, convulsed, prominent, and fixed
Pupils dilated, and immovable
Darkness before the eyes; obscuration of sight
Eyes distorted
All objects appear larger than they really are.
Ears EN
Hardness of hearing
Tingling in ears
Itching in ears.
Nose EN
Nose feels stopped up; no air passes through.—(Coryza with sore throat.)
Face EN
(Sunken face with) countenance pale, sallow, and grey
Face wan, or bloated and swollen
Distortion of the features
Cramps in the jaws
Twitching in muscles of face
Eruption round mouth
Titillation in the face, as if flies and spiders were crawling over the skin
Lock-jaw
Painful sensations in the under jaw and lower teeth.
Mouth EN
Mouth dry and clammy
Froth at the mouth
Sensation of coldness on tongue
Loss of speech
Dry and rough tongue
White and dry tongue
Tongue feels cold, or burnt and numb
Swelling and stiffness of l. side of tongue.
Throat EN
Sore throat with painful sensation, as if it were drawn downwards, during deglutition and at other times
Cramps in pharynx and oesophagus
Audible gulping when drinking
Deglutition is hindered or obstructed
Contraction of oesophagus when drinking
The drink he takes rolls audibly through oesophagus and intestines
Dull sticking pain as from a lump in throat, which extends to l. side of back
Sensation of swelling in pharynx
Sensation of coldness, or heat and burning pain in throat, and in bottom of palate.
Appetite EN
Sweetish, or acrid and irritating taste
Ardent thirst, with dryness of mouth
Entire loss of appetite, with clean tongue
Want of appetite, with repugnance to all food
Excessive craving
Sinking between meals, husky voice, brings up phlegm streaked with blood.
Stomach EN
Violent risings, either empty, or having taste of food
Excessive disgust, nausea, and vomiting, even of food
Hiccough
Bitter eructations
Violent pain in stomach, with loss of speech
Burning in stomach and abdomen, or coldness
Contractive pain in region of stomach, and cutting pain in abdomen
Vomiting of black matter
Aching of stomach
Pains in stomach, sufficiently violent to cause fainting
Great anguish in precordial region
Sensation of coldness, or burning in stomach, and in epigastrium.—(Inflammation of stomach.)
Weak digestion with confined bowels.
Abdomen EN
Sticking pains in liver with pressure
Distension of region of liver, with pains, as from subcutaneous ulceration
Induration of liver
Atrophic nutmeg liver
Colic below navel, with incisive pain in intestines
Sensation of swelling, of size of a walnut, in l. side of abdomen
Cuttings, cramps, and contractions in abdomen
Sensation of coldness, or heat and burning in abdomen.—(Inflammation of intestines.)
Pains in l. intestine
Flatulent colic
Borborygmi, rumbling, and grumbling in abdomen and in stomach
Pinching in umbilical region
Flatulence pressure outward at perinaeum; pressing on bladder
Pressure and tension beneath both Poupart's ligaments as if a part would press through
Contractive pains in groins; compelled to bend up for two hours (4 p.m.)
Sharp stitches in groins.
Stool And Anus EN
Constipation
Hard and tenacious evacuations, with straining
Ineffectual urging to stool, with emission of wind only
Diarrhoea, with tenesmus, incisive and burning pains in anus
Diarrhoea of green, slimy matter, with contraction in groins
Involuntary stools
Paralysis of sphincter ani
Cramp in rectum extends upwards from anus
Fine sticking in rectum after urging to stool
A stitch as with an awl in rectum during stool, which shoots from above downwards, and is followed by discharge of some pasty faeces
Three tearings in succession in rectum
Constriction of the rectum
Itching or crawling in rectum as from worms
No stool or urine is discharged.
Urinary Organs EN
Retention of urine
Pale yellow, watery urine
Frothy, acrid urine
Thick, reddish sediment in urine
Involuntary emission of urine
Paralysis of bladder
Pain in region of stomach during emission of urine.
Male Sexual Organs EN
Increased sexual desire
Gangrene of genital parts
Sticking pain above r. pubis, extending along spermatic cord, while lying and on moving about;
> when sitting up
Voluptuous itching beneath prepuce with desire for coition.
Female Sexual Organs EN
Catamenia too early and too abundant blood thin; with nightly tearing in vertex
Menorrhagia, blood dark, in large clots, during climaxis.—(Metrorrhagia in tumour case.)
Tearing in head, odontalgia, and cuttings, during catamenia
Severe pain in sacral region extending to pubis with dizziness and dimness of vision; cold extremities; cold tongue; great melancholy (dysmenorrhoea)
Dysmenorrhoea; colic first day, headache second day all over head, with or without sick feeling.—(Relieves the pain of uterine and rectal cancer.)
Attacks of suffocation, with palpitation and a sort of gasping for breath; must lie down sometimes to find relief (pregnancy)
Burning and stinging in and below mammae
Needle-like stitches in and beneath l. breast
Creeping or moving stitches in female breast, whereby the skin becomes sensitive to touch lasting a long time.
Respiratory Organs EN
Hoarseness, roughness, and scraping in throat and pharynx
Deep bass voice
Spasmodic constriction of the trachea
Little short cough, excited by a tickling and scraping in throat
Abundant gelatinous expectoration, with small specks of blood.—(Persistent cough in phthisis trachealis.)
Chest EN
Slow, weak, anxious respiration
Rattling, stertorous respiration
Obstruction to respiration in region of stomach
Asthmatic respiration as if lungs were incapable of being sufficiently dilated, or as if they were paralysed
Pressure on chest
Constriction of chest, with oppression
Burning and stitches in chest
In pulmonic affections, where the patient coughs and spits a great amount of phlegm, which is sprinkled over and through with distinct dots of blood; the dots may be close together, or considerably scattered (frequently seen following typhoid pneumonia)
Affections of l. chest.—(The breast-scirrhus swells up suddenly, looks dark and angry, with shooting pains
R.
T.
C.)
Heart EN
Pains in region of heart
Slow and irregular beating of heart
The patient puts his hand to his heart, as if there was some trouble there; this may result from running a short distance, which puts him completely out of breath; going upstairs, walking, any exercise may bring, this on.
Neck And Back EN
Painful stiffness in l. side of neck and nape
Compressed feeling in shoulders and nape, as well as in arms and back, with sudden palpitation which wakes her up at night
Pressure in nape esp. in open air, compelling him to bend head forward
Spinal irritation; pain down back every four hours, darting up to head and chest and causing a feeling of suffocation, with constant sick feeling and drowsiness;
> from sleep
Sensation of a heavy lump falling from just above umbilicus to small of back
Painful stiffness in small of back, when writing;
> immediately on becoming erect, but it soon returns
Stitches in r. side of small of back
Severe pain in sacral region extending to pubis
Burning in coccyx, 4 p.m.
Upper Limbs EN
Acute drawings and shootings in shoulders and in arms
Pressure on r. shoulder or in the joint
In r. shoulder, pains as from lameness and stitches
Stitch in both elbows
Pain, as if sprained, in r. wrist-joint
Burning sensation in hands, with swelling of the veins
Trembling of hands
Skin dry and rough between the fingers, with burning when touched with water.
Lower Limbs EN
Acute drawings and shootings in knees
Pain, as if sprained in l. hip-joint
Sticking in l. knee
The feet go to sleep (when crossing legs or sitting)
Ulcerated pains in lower part of heels
Stiffness of feet after rising from a seat
Numbness of feet.
Generalities EN
Weak, anaemic, emaciated girls Weak, apathetic, lies in bed in morning Suffocation, sickness, drowsiness Convulsive and spasmodic jerks, by fits
Internal inflammation Trembling, esp. of hands and feet, during exercise in open air Sudden weakness, with excessive nervous dejection.—(Apoplexy, and paralysis of limbs.) Painless paralysis of the limbs
Fainting fits Drawing and tearing pains in limbs Pinching with sensation of tearing Coldness of inner parts; heat of single part; internal chilliness and external heat
Want of vital energy, and of reaction Sense of fatigue in whole body Epileptic convulsions, with foaming at mouth, which is tightly closed Tetanus
Painlessness of the ailments Pulse small Skin turns blue; toe- and finger-nails become knobby Symptoms < in evening;
> at night, and in open air In general > from sleep.
Sleep EN
Frequent yawning, often accompanied by shuddering, with cutis anserina
Insurmountable inclination to sleep during day (esp. after dinner) and early in evening
Deep snoring sleep
Soporous condition
Somnolence, sometimes like coma vigil
Sleeplessness from over-excitement, and sudden heat
Troublesome and agitated dreams.
Fever EN
Chilliness and febrile shivering, which are removed neither by heat of fire, nor by that of bed
Shuddering, with cutis anserina, followed by burning heat
Chilliness and heat in alternation
Heat running down the back
Perspiration during the heat and continuing all night
Perspiration after eating
Coldness over whole body, but esp. in feet, principally in open air
Want of natural heat
Pulse feeble, slow, and irregular, often imperceptible, again more rapid, seldom full and hard.