Dioscorea Villosa
Dioscorea · Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 11,504 chars · source ↗
General
Dioscorea.
Dioscorea villosa. Wild yam. N. O. Dioscoreaceae. Tincture of fresh root, or trituration of resinoid, Dioscorein.
Clinical
Abdomen, distended. Acne. Angina pectoris. Biliousness.
Cholerine. Chorea. Colds. Colic.
Constipation. Cough. Cramps. Diarrhoea.
Dysentery. Dysmenorrhoea. Dyspepsia. Enteralgia.
Flatulence. Gall-bladder, affections of. Gastralgia. Haemorrhoids.
Headache. Knee, pain in. Legs, pain in. Liver, disorders of.
Lumbago. Mind, affections of. Neuralgia. Paronychia.
Parotitis. Pregnancy, pyrosis of. Renal colic. Rheumatism.
Sciatica. Side, pain in. Spinal irritation. Spleen, pain in.
Smell, disordered. Spermatorrhoea. Tea, effects of. Toothache.
Whitlow.
Characteristics
Burt, who made a heroic proving of this remedy, says: "The grand sphere for the use of Dioscorea is among neuroses of the bowels and stomach; where the coeliac and umbilical plexuses are in a state of great hyperaesthesia, the pain and spasm being unbearable." Hale considers as characteristic: "A constant pain, aggravated at regular intervals by paroxysms of intense suffering." Any kind of colic or neuralgia with these characteristics may indicate Dioscor., which stands in the highest rank among stomach and abdominal remedies, with important actions in many other spheres.
Dioscorea causes pain in the bowels; spasmodic; twisting; writhing; drawing; lancinating; pulsating; burning. Pains radiate upwards and downwards. Frequent sharp, darting pains from one part to another. Pains spread, especially from abdomen to distant parts.
Great faintness at stomach. Morning diarrhoea. Pains < at meals; > moving about; cannot sit still.
Seminal emissions (passive) with weakness of knees. According to Cushing's proving the primary effect of Diosc. was to cause strong-smelling perspiration of the genitals; constant excitement with strong and frequent erections day and night; amorous dreams with emissions. Afterwards came relaxed genitals, absence of desire, and emissions without erections. In the female sphere it has frequently cured dysmenorrhoea, uterine colic, and after-pains; also gastric disorders during pregnancy and the menses.
J. B. Bell has pointed out how closely the throat symptoms of Dios. resemble the initial stage of a cold when it has attacked the fauces and before it has spread to the nose or chest. Peculiar sensations are: As if top of head was lifted off.
As if temples were in a vice. As if head tied with a band (also neck). As if sticks, &c., in eyes; as if hot air streamed out of them. As if tongue burnt.
As if a stone were in stomach. In small spot in abdomen sensation as if drawn forcibly upward and backward to spine. Diosc. resembles Coloc. in colicky pains, but differs in the Conditions: whilst Coloc. has > bending double and < by motion, Diosc. has > by stretching out and by moving about. Some of the symptoms of Diosc. are <, others are > by touch and pressure.
Many symptoms appear, or are < in early morning from 2 a.m. onwards; on awaking; 8 a.m. (cough). Symptoms generally > in open air. Pains are remittent and paroxysmal.
It is one of the first remedies in whitlow; and in biliary and renal colic. Suited to persons of feeble digestive powers, old or young, with flatulence after meals, in stomach or bowels, unattended with liver or bowel derangement, who from some excess in eating, or from fasting, or from some error in diet, as eating old cheese, or uncooked fruit, pastry, &c., especially if they are great tea-drinkers, may be suddenly seized with violent colic.
Relations
Compare: Bism., Bry., Nux (stomach); Cham., Coloc., Ip., Kali bi., Pod., Rhus, Rum., Stan., Sul. (abdomen and stool); Aesc., Alo., Collin., Nux (haemorrhoids); Sarsap. (urinary symptoms); Calc. c., Can. i., Gels., Calad., Agn. c., Nux, Phos. (sexual organs); Act. r., Aesc., Alo., Bry., Nux (headache); Sil. (whitlow). Ver., Caps. (pain in ears on coughing). Tamus belongs to the same N. O. Ver. relieved pain in r. temple.
Causation
Tea-drinking. Excess in eating. Fasting. Errors in diet. Onanism.
Mind
Calls things by wrong names; writes down r. arm or leg when he means l
Aversion to company
Irritable; feels cross and troubled
Great depression of spirits.
Head
Vertigo and dizziness; goes to r. while walking; inclined to fall backward
Faintness < sitting up in bed; numbness < lying down
Vertigo from onanism
Vertigo with heat in head; with sharp pains in r. side of forehead extending to ears; a remittent pain < by pressure
Fulness in head speedily followed by spasmodic pains in abdomen
Head feels as if tied with a band
Headache in vertex and down to both shoulders
Dull pain in head and temples
Pain in forehead, extending into nose, with nausea and coryza
Pain as if lifted up in forehead and temples
Digging, cutting pain in the temples; in occiput; over eye.
Eyes
Eyes weak, sore, and smarting;
(r.
<); seems as if hot air streamed out, evening
Agglutination of the lids mornings
Sharp pain from r. eye to occiput
Feeling as of a round or large smooth substance, or as if dust, sticks, or lashes in eye
Lachrymation, hot tears, eyes fill in open air, smarting, wants to keep lids closed.
Ears
Dull, pressing pains in front of both ears
Sharp pain in front and behind the ears
Small balls of wax drop out of r. ear almost daily
Both ears feel suddenly stopped up and are sore to touch
Pains in ears, < blowing nose or coughing (8 a.m.)
Itching in internal ears (< r.).
Nose
Irritation of nasal passages with much sneezing; dry, or watery discharge
Discharge of bright-red blood from l. nostril; followed by a dark clot; while sitting writing
Soreness of the nostrils
Frequent or constant bad smell in the nose; like bilious-fever patients; any bad smell remains in nose a long time.
Face
Dull, grinding, drawing, digging, or sharp darting pains at angle of l. lower jaw
Spasmodic closing of jaws, biting tongue when neither eating nor drinking
Little pimples with black heads
Lips dry; commissures sore.
Mouth
Heavy brown coating on the tongue mornings
Sides of tongue sore as if burnt
Tip of tongue sore
Mouth very dry, bitter, and clammy in the morning (on waking 4 a.m.)
Mouth dry, but full of sticky mucus; no thirst
Soreness of gums and roof of mouth
Saliva runs out while asleep.
Throat
Irritation, burning, and smarting in throat and fauces
Fauces rough, dry; frequent inclination to swallow; but it causes nausea and shudderings
Belching gas, but throat so dry it prevents escape of gas
Constricted feeling as from something tight about neck; makes breathing difficult
Itching in l. tonsil
Stitches in tonsil up to ear
Constricted feeling
Soreness and sharp aching pain in both parotid glands.
Stomach
Sour or bitter eructations
Belching of large quantities of tasteless wind momentarily relieving the distress at the stomach
Nausea
After eating: nausea, faintness, distress, burning at stomach; dull, heavy pain > by belching; tastes food eaten;
> of symptoms
Faint, uneasy feeling at stomach
Headache < after dinner
Constant distress at stomach, with frequent sharp pains; had to unfasten the clothing
Distressing pain at epigastrium relieved by raising sour, bitter wind
Burning at the stomach
Sharp, cramping pain in pit of stomach, followed by raising, belching, and gulping enormous quantities of tasteless wind, followed by hiccough and discharge of flatulence from the bowels
Sharp, cutting pains in epigastrium
Faintness at epigastrium.
Abdomen
Sharp pain in l. hypochondrium
Dull, heavy, grinding pain in region of liver, worse evenings
Cutting pain in region of liver;
(r. lobe)
Hard, dull pain in region of gall bladder
Constant distress in the umbilical and hypogastric regions, with severe cutting, colic-like pains every few minutes in stomach and small intestines
Griping, cramping pains in the umbilical region
Rumbling in the bowels, and passing large quantities of flatulence
Flatulence after meals; wind colic, but with little or no hepatic derangement
Discharges of offensive flatus
Twisting and sharp cutting pains in the bowels
Bowels sore and tender on pressure
Pain in inguinal regions extending to the testicles.
Stool And Anus
Itching in the rectum
Haemorrhoidal tumours as large as red cherries, with pain and distress in anus
After stool: prolapsus ani; weak, faint feeling in abdomen; colic
Frequent urgent desire for stool
Very offensive flatulence
Diarrhoea early in morning, driving out of bed
Just before and during a stool, severe pain in sacral region and bowels, of a writhing drawing character; the pains radiate upwards and downwards, until the whole body and extremities become involved in spasm
Very profuse, thin, yellow stool in the morning; followed by a very weak, faint feeling, without relieving pain in bowels
Loose stools with much straining
Stools slimy; dark-coloured; bilious; very offensive; light mushy
During pregnancy, alternate constipation and relaxation.
Urinary Organs
Writhing, with dry and crampy pains, with passing of renal calculus (r.).—Spasmodic stricture of urethra, with pain about navel > by pressure; pressure on rectum, paroxysmal colic.
Male Sexual Organs
Constant excitement of genital organs, with frequent erections
Genitals cold and relaxed
Strong-smelling perspiration on scrotum and pubes
Diminished sexual desire
Emission of semen during sleep.
Female Sexual Organs
Dysmenorrhoea; spasmodic uterine colic; pains suddenly fly to distant parts
After-pains
False pains
Cramps in fingers and toes alternating with uterine pains.
Respiratory Organs
Hacking cough from irritation and tickling low down in the throat
Sharp cutting pain from l. axilla to nipple and down side deep in lung
Cough with pain in region of umbilicus and temples, brown tongue, weak knees
Dull, aching, or sharp cutting pains in both lungs, from front to back, or vice versâ.
Heart
Sharp pain in region of heart, arrests breathing; < lying l. side.
Neck And Back
Dull pain in back of neck; stiff
Back lame in morning
Back in region of liver so lame it is almost impossible to turn in bed;
> by motion
Severe backache
Sharp deep pain in lower portion of l. scapula, followed by sharp pain through centre of r. lung
Itching over r. scapula
Drawing pains in sacrum: in sacro-iliac joint
Spinal hyperaesthesia
Spinal cord feels bruised all the way up and down
Sharp pains in the back.
Upper Limbs
Pain in l. shoulder
Grinding in elbows
Hard aching pains in bones of forearm, and in wrist and hands
Numbness of l. hand
Panaritium, early stage; pain, pricking, sharp, agonising
Paronychia.
Lower Limbs
Hard, dull, or tearing pains in the hip
Pain in r. leg from point of exit of sciatic nerve, felt only when moving the limb, or when sitting up
Knees lame, weak, and painful; trembling
Hard, dull, or sharp pains in leg
Ankles weak and painful.
Generalities
Restless, trembling, faint feeling.—Languid, tired feeling.—Rheumatic pains < night and early morning.—Chorea; with seminal emissions.—Itching of various parts of the body and limbs.
Skin
Panaritium, early when pains are sharp and agonising, or when pricking is felt; nails brittle.—Little pimples with black heads.
Sleep
Many symptoms are < after sleep: bitter mouth; pains in bowels; hard beating of heart
Restless after 2 a.m.; must move, yet it hurts, he is so sore
First sleep late; wakes early.