Cereus Bonplandii
Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 5,268 chars · source ↗
General
Cereus Bonplandii.
A variety of Cactus grandiflorus. N. O. Cactaceae. Tincture of stems.
Clinical
Eczema. Emaciation. Eyes, neuralgia of. Heart, affections of. Insanity. Kidneys, affections of. Neuralgia.
Characteristics
The principal symptoms of Cer. bon. are in connection with the heart, as in the case of Cactus, with which it must he compared. The symptoms are < at night; < from pressure of clothing, > undressing. Cer. bon. was proved by John H.
Fitch in substantial doses (H. P., xii. 533). The prover lost 7 1/2 lbs. in weight. He felt weighed down by an incubus.
When mental symptoms subsided, bodily symptoms increased and vice versâ. Could not bear contact of clothes; felt better on undressing. Among the marked symptoms were: Wants to be at work; on something useful. Pains through globe of eyes and orbit.
Pain through heart; in left great pectoral muscle; left side of chest. Expanding sensation in chest followed by sudden collapse. The effect on the nervous system passed off in four or five days. The pains of Cer. b. have a tendency to spread to other parts.
Most appear on left side. "Itching in right popliteal space" lasted eight or nine years after the proving. "Itching with roughness of the skin like eczema above left knee anteriorly." "Itching, with eruption like herpes below left scapula remained permanent." Fitch (who regards Cer. b. as an "antipsoric of remarkable power") cured with it: (1) a case of eczema of both hands extending up to elbows. (2) Deposits in urine.
(3) Dropsy of cardiac and renal origin. (4) Left intercostal neuralgia. (5) Anterior crural neuralgia. Also two cases of insanity—(6) one in a young woman, gloomy, restless, inclined to curse, swear, and throw things at persons, if resisted;
(7) the other in a married woman who had spiritual delusions—that she had committed the unpardonable sin, &c. This came on originally after confinement.
Relations
Compare:—Cact., Anhalon. (visions of colours), Graph.; Anac. (tendency to swear).
Mind
Desire to engage in work; to have all time employed; to be engaged in something useful
Desire to be dissolved
Disposition to pray
Apathetic; difficult to keep attention fixed
Irritable; inclined to curse and swear
Time seems to pass slowly
Spiritual delusions; thinks she has committed the unpardonable sin.
Head
Feeling as if head suspended from some support under skull and base of brain
Head felt drawn to l. backward
Pain extending through forehead (l.) to occiput
Painful stunning feeling in r. frontal bone
Sensation as of a board bound to back of head, more l
Severe pain in occiput; running through to brain;
< walking or descending steps
Profuse failing off of hair.
Eyes
Heavy feeling in eyes; soreness
Pains through globe of r. eye; of l. eye and orbit
Strong light painful
Perception of a cluster of orange-coloured spots, round and symmetrical.
Ears
Pain behind l. mastoid process extending upward and backward; through ear and head.
Nose
Sneezing.—Discharges hardened mucus, greenish.
Face
Haggard look.—Pain along r. malar bone, running to temple, through to occiput.
Mouth
Tongue: red; deep purple
Watery sensation in mouth
Salivation.
Throat
Persistent mucus in throat, pale greenish or clear.
Abdomen
Pain in l. groin sharp and cutting as from calculus in ureter.
Stool
Copious urgent evacuation
Felt very well after
Ineffectual urging.
Urinary Organs
Pain in kidneys; as from calculus
Sticking pain r. ureter
Deep-coloured, strong-smelling urine.
Male Sexual Organs
Priapism in presence of opposite sex.—Anaesthesia of genitals.
Respiratory Organs
Clearing the larynx of mucus
Breath fetid
Long, deep, uneasy respirations, < before rising
Cough on throwing off outer garments.
Chest
Chest expands itself seemingly to its utmost capacity, in an instant collapsing, to be repeated
Deep inspiration at intervals; as from oppression
Intercostal neuralgia
Somewhat persistent pain in cartilages of lower l. false ribs
Chest feels empty.
Heart
Irritable heart
Heart symptoms < lying l. side
Pains in chest l. side and through heart
Pains in left pectoralis major
Convulsive pains at heart on going to bed at night.
Sensation as of a great stone laid on heart; soon after as if chest broken out just in front of heart
As if heart transfixed by a bolt
Pricking pain.
Neck And Back
Pain on l. side of neck; and along clavicle; at night
Pain in upper portion of spine and medulla, running upwards and expanding to surface of brain, < stooping or bending head forward
Pains running along back down to arms
Vertebral spines tender to touch
Pain in r. scapula.
Upper Limbs
Pain in both upper arms.—Pain with numbness in arms and hands.
Lower Limbs
Pain in r. hip
Pain inner side l. knee
Itching in r. popliteal space.
Generalities
Lost 7 1/2 lbs. in weight.—Ill at ease, restless.—When mental symptoms subside, bodily ones are <, and conversely.
Skin
Pustules on body, esp. on nates.—Intolerable itching.—(The skin symptoms persisted for nine years.)
Sleep
Fits of yawning
Drowsy; slept all night without undressing
Dreamed: of large assemblies; of forgotten scenes
Re-dreamed old dreams.