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Chamomilla

Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 24,268 chars · source ↗

All books on Chamomilla → Antidoted byAconitum NapellusAllium CepaAluminaAngustura VeraBelladonnaBorax VenetaCalcarea CarbonicaCamphoraChelidonium MajusCinchona Officinalis
General

Chamomilla.

Matricaria chamomilla. N. O. Compositae. Tincture of whole fresh plant.

Clinical

Acidity. Anger. Asthma (from anger). Blepharospasm.

Catarrh. Coffee, effects of. Colic. Convulsions.

Cough. Cramp. Croup. Dentition.

Diarrhoea. Dysmenorrhoea. Dyspepsia. Earache.

Eyes: blepharitis; ophthalmia. Eructations. Erysipelas. Excitement.

Excoriation. Fainting fits. Fevers. Flatulence.

Flatulent colic. Gout. Gum-rash. Headache.

Hernia. Hysterical joint. Influenza. Jaundice.

Lienteria. Labour: disorders of; after-pains. Mastitis. Menstruation, disordered.

Miliary eruption. Milk-fever. Miscarriage. Mumps.

Neuralgia. Parotitis. Perichondritis. Peritonitis.

Pregnancy, disorders of. Red-gum. Rheumatism. Salivation (nocturnal).

Sciatica. Screaming. Sensitiveness. Spasms.

Speech, affections of. Toothache. Ulcers. Uterus, diseases of.

Waking, screaming on. Whooping cough.

Characteristics

"There is in Chamomilla a little thread of symptoms, and nearly always found running through it. This is a spiteful, sudden, or uncivil irritability" (Guernsey). Teste puts Cham. at the head of one of his groups, which includes Grat., Viol. t., Hell. n. The common feature of this group is: "A particular derangement of the cerebral functions and even of the whole nervous system; a painful increase of the sentient action, followed by a considerable depression of the vital forces, and a certain disorder of the mental faculties." In spite of its obvious analogies with Puls., Ipec., Acon., and Coni., it has marked and exclusive characteristics of its own.

"It increases the general nervous sensibility, and stimulates the cerebral functions: a property that seems to give rise secondarily to the various organic alterations that Cham. is capable of producing, and for which it has so often been given with success." "It appears," says Hahnemann, quoted by Teste, "to diminish" [i.e., curatively] "in a great degree, the excessive sensitiveness to pain and the violent derangements which pain occasions in the moral condition of the patient.

This is the reason why it appeases a multitude of sufferings to which coffee-drinkers, and persons who have been treated with narcotic palliatives are subject. And this is likewise the reason why it ought not to be given to those who bear pain patiently and with resignation. I mention this rule here, for it is of very great importance." Teste remarks an this that Cham. antidotes not only Coffea, but also Causticum, and most of the members of the Causticum group. Over-sensitiveness, with great irritability and crossness, is the leading note of the Chamomilla effects.

The pains are unbearable and drive to despair; the patient insists that the doctor shall cure them at once. Prostrating debility as soon as the pains begin. The senses are too acute. Bad temper (Nux is malicious).

Peevishness; ill-humour; anger, with rage, violence and heat. Cannot bear to be looked at. Cannot be civil to doctor. Impatience.

Cham. also corresponds to the effects of anger: colic, diarrhoea, jaundice, twitchings, and convulsions. Child cries, and must be carried about to be quieted. There is hot sweat on head. Stopped up colds, with dripping of hot water from nose.

One cheek red, the other pale. Face sweats after eating or drinking. The patient is hot and thirsty with the pains. Cham. is almost typical of the dentition state.

The toothache of Cham. comes on when entering a warm room or from drinking anything warm. There is fetor of breath, and of discharges in general. Biliousness preceded by anger. Gastralgia, food eaten lies like a load on stomach, hypochondria distended.

Tongue yellowish white. Bitter taste. Colic > by drinking coffee. The diarrhoea of Cham. is: stool hot, yellowish green; like chopped egg; offensive; excoriation round anus.

Intertrigo of children. Wind colic; belching of wind < the condition (this is characteristic). Menorrhagia dark clots; fetid; temper always < before and during flow (Nux also, but Nux is conscious of it, Cham. is not). Threatened abortion caused by anger.

The pain of labour or at menses is centred in the womb, bearing down, painful contractions, unbearable; they extend down thighs and are felt in the back. Leucorrhoea is acrid, watery, corrosive, smarting. Cham. has inflammation of the parotid glands, nocturnal salivation. Rheumatism compelling to get up and walk about; thirsty, hot, almost beside himself.

Muscles of face and hands twitch. Insomnia of children; start in sleep; twitching of hands and face; hot sweat of head and face; one cheek red. Puts feet out of bed; soles burn. Aggravation by heat is one of the most prominent features of Cham.

< By warm food. Cham. may be the remedy in croup, or croupy cough, if mental symptoms and time conditions correspond. W. H.

Baker (Rochester) has recorded such a case. A chubby boy, light hair, blue eyes had a croupy cough. Acon. and Spong. at first controlled it, but afterwards failed. The cough became a loose, rattling, suffocating cough; the mucus came up in the throat and nearly suffocated him.

Paroxysms at midnight. During the day he was hoarse; ever impatient, nothing seemed to suit him. Cham. c. m. cured, improvement setting in within two hours. "Chamomile tea" has removed the night-sweats of phthisis.

Dr. Anderson, of Dover, Delaware, relates the case of a man who had to change three to five times every night. A cup of weak chamomile tea was ordered every night. The second night there was slight diminution, the third he only had to change twice, the fourth once, and after that there was no more trouble.

The plant in this case was probably Anthemis cotula, or wild chamomile of U.S. Dr. Anderson learned its use from "an old woman." But the sweats of Chamomilla are also very marked, Nash mentions a characteristic in the association of numbness or alternation of it with pains. He relates the case of a man who had very painful rheumatism of left shoulder, and who got no better from the usual remedies, but was speedily cured by Cham., the indication being: "Numbness with the pains." Nash differentiates the restlessness of Aco. and Ars. from that of Cham. by the absence in the case of the last of fear of death.

The Cham. patient "would rather die than suffer so." Lying in bed <. Walking > backache and rheumatic pains. > Being carried about. Touch, and even looking at the patient, <.

Covering <. Pains recur in evening and are < before midnight. Symptoms generally < night. Warmth < most symptoms.

Cold > ulcers; a finger dipped in cold water and applied to the part > toothache. < From music. Heaviness and fulness of whole body from playing piano. There is desire for open air, and yet over-sensitiveness to open air, especially about ears.

Damp cold weather <. Windy weather <. Great dread of wind. Cham. is particularly suited to diseases of pregnant women, nurses, and little children.

Light or brown-haired persons. Arthritic diathesis.

Relations

Cham. antidotes: Coffee, and the narcotics. Especially opium as it corresponds to its secondary effects (useful in nerve storm when morphia is discontinued); the nightly headaches of Thuja. It is antidoted by: Aco., Alum., Borax, Camph., Coccul., Coff., Coloc., Coni., Ign., Nux v., and especially Puls. Puls. and Cham. antidote one another, and precede and follow each other well.

Compatible: Merc. sol., Sul., Puls. Complementary: Bell. in diseases of children (Cham. acts more on nerves of abdomen, Bell. more on cranial nerves.) Compare: in dentition, Bell., Borax, Calc., Tereb.; in over-sensitiveness, Aco., Coff., Hep., Hyo., Ign.; diarrhoea, parotitis, toothache, Merc. (Merc. has hard, pale swelling of face, Cham. red and hot); sour breath, constrictive gastralgia in coffee drinkers, Nux (Cham. has bad temper during menses; Nux has malicious temper); toothache < in bed at night;

< from warmth, Sul., Merc., Puls.; distension of abdomen unrelieved by eructation, Chi.; indignation and its effects, Coloc., Staph., Nux, Bry.; aversion to be looked at, Ant. c., Chi., Stram.; > by moving about, Rhus., Fer., Verat., (Ver. has maddening pains compelling to walk about, but there is none of the feverishness and excitement of Cham.); stopped catarrh, Nux, Samb., Sticta.; nocturnal salivation, Nux., Pho., Rhus.

Causation

Dentition. Anger. Indigestion. Pain.

Mind

Attacks of great anguish, as if the heart would break, with complete discouragement, excessive inquietude, agitation and tossing, groans and tears, accompanied often by drawing colic, and pressure at the pit of the stomach

Disposition to weep, and to be angry, with great sensitiveness to offence

Crying and howling

The child cries and wants to be carried on the arm

Quarrelsome and choleric humour

Mischievous disposition in children

Mental excitement, with strong tendency to be frightened

Hypochondriacal humour

Patients neither endure to be addressed by others, nor to be interrupted when conversing

Peevishness, ill-humour, absence of mind, taciturnity and repugnance to conversation

State of mental abstraction and inadvertence, as if plunged in meditation, with diminished comprehension

A sort of stupidity, and apathy to pleasure and to external objects

Desire for different things, which, when once possessed, are no longer cared for

Tendency to misapply words when speaking or writing

Frantic and furious delirium.

Head

Intoxication and staggering, on getting up in the morning

Vertigo, with fainting

Vertigo, with obscuration of the eyes

Vertigo chiefly in the morning, or in the evening, or after a meal, or after taking coffee

Headache on waking in the morning, or while asleep, sometimes with a sensation as if the head were going to burst

Pain as if caused by a bruise, and pressive heaviness in the head

Pullings, shootings, and beatings in the head, often only semi-lateral, with one red cheek; worse at night; in the open air; in the wind; better from warm coverings and when walking about

Cracking in one side of the brain

Hot, clammy sweat on the forehead, and on the scalp

Starting pain in the forehead, chiefly after a meal.

Eyes

Pain as of a wound, in the corners of the eyes

Shootings, burning, and heat in the eyes

Eyes inflamed, and red, with pressive pains, chiefly on moving the eyes and on shaking the head

Great dryness in the margin of the eyelids

Inflammation of the margin of the eyelids (esp. of the lower, which are swollen), with mucous secretion, humour in the eyes and nocturnal agglutination

Yellow colour of the sclerotica

Ecchymosis in the eye, and haemorrhage of the eyes

Spasmodic closing of the eyelids

Quivering of the eyelids

Distortion of the eyes

Pupils contracted

Sparkling before the eyes

Confused sight, more frequently in the morning than in the evening

Semi-lateral obscuration of the sight, on looking at anything white

Aversion to bright light.

Ears

Otalgia, with drawing and tensive pains

Shootings extending to the ears, chiefly on stooping, with disposition to be angry at trifles, and to take everything in bad part

Tinkling and buzzing in the ears

Sensation as if the ears were stopped, and as if a bird were scraping and fluttering in them

Sensibility of hearing; music appears insupportable

Inflammatory swelling of the parotids, as well as of the sub-maxillary glands, and those of the neck

Discharge of thin pus from the ears.

Nose

Wrinkled skin of the nose

Coryza, with obstruction of the nose

Ulceration and inflammation of the nostrils

Epistaxis

Coagulated blood from nose; viscid nasal secretion

Very acute smell.

Face

Face hot, red, burning or redness and heat of one cheek, with coldness and paleness of the other; or face pale, hollow, with distortion of features from pain

Heat of the face, while the rest of the body is cold

Swelling of the face

Erysipelas in the face, with hard and bluish swelling of one cheek

Swelling of one temple, with pain on being touched

Shooting, drawing, and pulsative pains in one side of the face

Red miliary eruption on the cheeks

Yellow colour of the skin on the face

Convulsive movements of the muscles of the face and of the lips

Lips cracked, excoriated, and ulcerated

Spasms in the jaws, with compression of the teeth

Wrinkles on the forehead.

Teeth

Odontalgia, most frequently semi-lateral, and chiefly at night, when warm in bed, with insupportable pains which almost induce despair, swelling, heat, and redness of the cheek, swelling, burning of the gums, and painful swelling of the sub-maxillary glands

The toothache recommences when entering a warm room

Toothache, after a cold and suppressed perspiration

Affects teeth on l. lower side; under jaw

The pains are commonly drawing and pulling, or pulsative and shooting, or searching and gnawing, in the hollow teeth, appearing frequently after drinking or eating anything hot (or cold), and chiefly after taking coffee

Toothache > by dipping finger in cold water and applying it to affected part

Loosening of the teeth

Dentition, with convulsions.

Mouth

Dryness of the tongue and mouth (with thirst), or flow of frothy saliva

Putrid smell of the mouth

Tongue red and cracked, or loaded with thick and yellowish coating

Blisters on the tongue and also under it, with shooting pains

Aphthae in the mouth

Convulsive movements of the tongue.

Throat

Sore throat, with swelling of the parotids, of the tonsils, and of the sub-maxillary glands

Inflammation of the soft palate and tonsils, with dark redness

Pains in the pharynx, shooting and burning, or a sensation as if there were a plug in the throat

Inability to swallow solid food, esp. when lying down

Burning heat in the throat, from the mouth to the stomach

Deep redness of the parts affected.

Appetite

Putrid or clammy taste

Acid taste in the mouth, and of rye-bread

Bitter taste in the mouth (early in the morning), and of food

Want of appetite, and dislike to food

Aliments cannot descend

Aversion to, or great longing for coffee, sometimes with nausea, or even vomiting, and attacks of suffocation, after having partaken of it

After eating, heat and sweat of the face, inflation and fulness of the stomach, and of the abdomen, risings and inclination to vomit

Excessive thirst for cold drinks.

Stomach

Risings, which aggravate the pains of the stomach and of the abdomen

Acid rising (the existing pain is aggravated by eructations)

Regurgitation of food

Nausea after eating, and chiefly in the morning

Uneasiness, and a sort of flabbiness in the stomach, as if the patient were about to faint

Vomiting of food, and of sour substances, with mucus

Bitter, bilious vomiting

Excessively painful pressure on the precordial region, as if the heart were going to be crushed, with cries, sweat, and anguish

Pressive gastralgia, as from a stone on the stomach, with difficulty of respiration, chiefly after eating, or at night, with inquietude and tossing, either renewed or mitigated by coffee

Burning pain in the pit of the stomach, and in the hypochondria

After eating or drinking, heat and perspiration of the face.

Abdomen

Tension and anxious fulness in the hypochondria, and in the epigastrium (in the morning), with a sensation as if everything was ascending towards the chest

Colic, after anger

Flatulent colic, with inflation of the abdomen, and accumulation of flatus towards the hypochondria, and the inguinal ring

Excessively painful colic, pullings and cuttings in the abdomen, sometimes in the morning, at sunrise

Sensation of emptiness in the abdomen, with constant movement in the intestines, and blue circles round the eyes

Burning cuttings in the epigastrium, with difficulty of respiration, and paleness of the face

Shooting in the abdomen, principally on coughing, on sneezing, and on touching it

Painful sensibility of the abdomen to the touch, with sensation of ulceration in the interior

Pressure towards the inguinal ring, as if hernia were about to protrude

Abdominal spasms.

Stool And Anus

Constipation, as from inertia of the rectum

Diarrhoea during dentition (green mucus)

Diarrhoea from cold, from anger, from chagrin

Diarrhoea chiefly at, night, with spasmodic colic, mostly with slimy, and whitish or watery, or yellowish and greenish faeces, or mucus mingled with excrement, like eggs when beaten up; or hot corrosive faeces, of a fetid odour, like rotten eggs; or evacuation of undigested substances

Haemorrhoids, with very painful fissures and ulcerations in the anus

Excoriation about anus (intertrigo).

Urinary Organs

Inclination to make water, with anxiety

On making water, itching and burning in the urethra

Urine hot and yellowish, with fleecy sediment; or turbid urine, with yellowish sediment

Involuntary or feeble emission of urine

Excoriation at the edge of the prepuce.

Male Sexual Organs

Itching, stinging pain in the margin of the prepuce

Swelling of prepuce (Sycosis)

Excited sexual desire.

Female Sexual Organs

Catamenia suppressed, with swelling and pressive pains in the pit of the stomach, and in the abdomen

Pains like those of labour, and general dropsy

Menstrual colic, before the catamenia

Pressure towards the uterus, as if from the pains of child-birth

Pains may occur by which the foetus is forced up instead of down

The labour-pains are not sufficient, but cause great restlessness and anguish (over-sensitive to the pains)

Violent after-pains

Metrorrhagia, with discharge of deep-red blood, and of clots, accompanied by labour pains

Discharge of blood between the regular catamenia

Burning pains and smarting in the vagina

Corrosive leucorrhoea, with smarting

Scirrhous induration of the mammary glands

Suppression of milk (milk is cheesy or mixed with pus; milk fever)

Puerperal fever

Erysipelas of the mammae and soreness of the nipples.

Respiratory Organs

Catarrh and hoarseness, with accumulation of tenacious mucus in the throat

Stitches and burning in the larynx, with hoarseness

Burning pain in the larynx

Spasmodic constriction in the gullet

Dry cough, produced by a constant titillation in the larynx, and under the sternum, chiefly in the evening, and at night in bed, continuing during sleep, and sometimes accompanied by a fit of suffocation

Wheezing and rattling in the trachea

Anger provokes the cough (in children)

Expectoration of mucus of a bitter or putrid taste.

Chest

Respiration short, croaking, or wheezing and stertorous

Deep respiration, with sensible rising of the thorax

Fit of suffocation, as if from constriction of the larynx or of the chest

Attacks of flatulent asthma, with anxiety and fulness in the precordial region

Oppression of the chest

Shootings in the chest, chiefly on breathing

Burning in the chest, with dizziness and anxiety

Shooting in the regions of the heart, with difficulty of respiration.

Neck And Back

Tensive stiffness of neck muscles

Glands swollen, often very sensitive; painful when turning neck

Aching pain in the sacrum, chiefly at night

Pain as of a bruise in the sacrum, with pulling pains, like those of labour, extending to the thigh

Shooting, pulling, tearing pain in the back

Painful stiffness in the loins, after having been seated some time

Insupportable pain in the loins and in the hip, in the morning, on the side opposite to that on which the patient is reclining

Convulsions in the back, with a throwing backwards of the head, and stiffness of the body as in tetanus.

Limbs

Cracking in joints, with pain in them as if bruised

Pain in periosteum of limbs with paralytic weakness

Convulsive single jerks in limbs

All joints sore as if bruised and tired out; there is no power in hands or feet, though without corresponding weariness.

Upper Limbs

Numbness and stiffness of the arms on grasping an object

Convulsions of the arms, with clasping in of the thumb

Nocturnal pains, with paralytic weakness in the arms

Swelling; or coldness; and paralytic stiffness of the hands; with cold perspiration in the palms of the hands

Numbness or convulsive movements of the fingers

Finger-joints red and swollen

Retraction of thumbs.

Lower Limbs

Paralytic and drawing pain in the hip and in the thigh, extending to the feet, chiefly at night

Tension of the muscles of the thighs, and of the legs

Cramps in the calves of the legs, chiefly at night

Tearing sensation, with a paralytic condition of the feet, at night

Cramp

Cracking of the knee during motion

Burning in the soles of the feet (at night, he puts his feet out of bed)

Sensation of numbness in the toes

Burning and itching in the feet, as from chilblains

Swelling of the foot and of the sole of the foot.

Generalities

Rheumatic, drawing pains, chiefly at night in bed, with paralytic state, and sensation of torpor in the parts affected, and inclination to move them continually; mitigated by external heat Pain with thirst, heat, and redness (of one) of the cheeks, and hot sweating of the head Pulsative pains, as from an, abscess Over-excitement, and excessive sensibility of the nervous system, with great sensibility to pain, which appears insupportable and induces despair

Over-sensitiveness of the senses (esp. from coffee and narcotics) Great sensibility in the open air, and principally to wind The extremities feel, as it were, stiff and paralysed Great weakness and inclination to fall, with prostration of strength to fainting as soon as the pain commences

Syncope, with sensation of sinking and faintness in the precordial region Attacks of catalepsy, with hippocratic face, extremities cold, eyes half-closed, pupils dilated and dull Attacks of spasms and of convulsions, with face red and bloated, and convulsive movements in the eyes, the eyelids, the lips, the muscles of the face, and of the tongue Epileptic convulsions, with retraction of the thumbs, and foam before the mouth, preceded by colic, or followed by a lethargic state

Urgent inclination to remain lying down; a child will neither walk nor be carried in the arms Cracking, and pain resembling a bruise, in the joints.

Skin

Miliary eruption, with itching and nocturnal tickling

Unhealthy skin; every injury tends to ulceration

In the ulcers, tingling, itching, burning, and jerking shootings, with excessive sensibility to the touch

Itching pimples form around the ulcer, covered with scurf, and suppurating

Yellow colour of the skin (over the whole body)

Rash of infants and during nursing

Red rash on the cheeks, on the forehead

Inflammatory swelling of the glands.

Sleep

Yawning and stretching

Sleepiness, during the day, without being able to sleep, on lying down

Coma, and coma-vigil, with pulling pain in the head, and nausea, or with feverish restlessness, short respiration, and thirst

Nocturnal sleeplessness, with attacks of anguish, visions, and illusions of the sight and hearing

Snoring breathing when asleep

On sleeping, starts with fright, cries, tossing, tears, talking, raving, groans, snoring, and constant separating of the thighs

Fantastical, lively, quarrelsome and vexatious dreams, with morose and sullen aspect

Nocturnal delirium.

Fever

Pulse small, tense, accelerated

Constant alternation of cold, or of partial shuddering, with partial heat, in different parts of the body

Chilliness and coldness of the forepart of the body, while the back part is hot, or vice versâ

General heat, esp. in the evening, or at night in bed, with anxiety, thirst, redness of the cheeks, hot perspiration of the head, at the forehead, and the scalp; and sometimes, chiefly on uncovering the body, mixed with shivering or shuddering

After or during the heat, sour sweat, which causes an itching on the skin

Burning heat and redness (often only in one) of the cheeks, chiefly at night, with groans, tossing, and cold or heat in the rest of the body

Intermittent fever, with nocturnal aggravation, pressure on the pit of the stomach, nausea or bilious vomiting, colic, diarrhoea, and painful emission of urine

Chilliness, with internal heat

Chill and coldness of the body, with burning hot face and hot breath

Nocturnal sweat, when asleep

Continuous burning heat, with violent thirst, and starts during sleep, and furious delirium.