Iberis Amara
Iberis · Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 8,650 chars · source ↗
General
Iberis.
Iberis amara. Lepidium iberis. Bitter Candytuft. N. O. Cruciferae. Tincture of seeds.
Clinical
Asthma. Bronchitis. Dropsy. Heart, affections of; conscious action of; influenza heart.
Characteristics
Iberis is one of the many remedies introduced into homoeopathy by Hale. The genus was named by Dioscorides from Iberia (Spain), its supposed original habitat. Old-school authorities had mentioned Iberis as useful in the treatment of hypertrophy of the heart. This led Hale to have the remedy proved.
Sylvester (old school) had observed that Iber. controlled "the violence and sharp action of the heart and softened the pulse; hence its great service in hypertrophy." Hale's provers confirmed this observation, the pulse being softened even during palpitations. Hale considers that the primary depressing action is transient, the secondary, exciting action more persistent. The cardiac symptoms of the drug are very pronounced and well marked, consisting of pains dull or stitching, with palpitation and breathlessness on slightest exertion; pains down the left arm and numbness; intermittent pulse.
The concomitant symptoms are well marked. Fulness and heat in head and neck; vertigo; nausea. The excessive nervousness and frightened condition so frequently found associated with heart affections was pronounced in the provings. Cold hands and feet.
Choking sensation in the throat was also marked. The stools were white as those of Digit. A common symptom was "On turning on left side a sharp sticking pain is felt as if a needle were crosswise in the ventricles and pricked at each contraction." Sharp stinging pains from before backward. The symptoms are < at night, and in the morning on rising; on the slightest exertion, as laughing or coughing; on stooping; on walking; on lying down; lying on left side; on turning in bed.
At the same time trembling weakness and nervousness cause desire to lie down. < By sitting still; in afternoon; in open air. Proctor (H. W., xxxv., 489) has related his own experience with this remedy.
After an attack of influenza of moderate intensity in 1890, he suffered from cardiac weakness for over two years. Every waking moment was attended with cardiac distress. On the least agitation the weakness developed into irregular palpitation with great anxiety. < From tobacco, which had to be discarded;
< from wine, except port. After all the usual remedies had been taken in vain, he took Iber. Ø, one drop in a powder on the tongue, two or three times a day. "After about ten days the heart fell almost suddenly into its perfect, regular, unconscious beat, and retired at once and finally from further observation." Proctor has repeatedly given Iber. since then in similar cases with the same success. "Conscious of heart's action" may possibly prove a keynote for its use.
Relations
Compare: Lepidium, Spigel., Digit., Cact., Bell., Amygd. am., Crataeg., Phaseol. nan.
Mind
Sad, down-hearted, oppressed, with desire to sigh
Very irritable, with dulness of mind and lack of memory
Nervous and irritable on rising in morning
Feels as if frightened, an indefinable dread with trembling
An excited, frightened feeling, with cold sweat on face.
Head
Vertigo: with dull pain and chilliness; when rising, morning, had to lie down; when making any exertion, with nausea; when standing, < on stooping; in back part of head, as if occiput were turning around
Entering the house after walking felt faint
Heat and fulness in neck and head, with flushed face and cold feet and hands
Pain in r. side of head
Frontal headache: on rising in morning; and loss of appetite
Dull pain in head, with vertigo and feverish chilliness.
Eyes
Red eyes with flushed face
Feeling in eyes as if being forced outward
Flashes before eyes, with dull headache and palpitation of heart.
Ears
Dulness of hearing and comprehension (11 a.m.)
Dull hearing and laboured breathing
Roaring in ears, with heaviness of head, slight nausea and palpitation of heart.
Face
Flushed hot face and red eyes, with palpitation.
Throat
Throat as if filled with dust
Throat feels as if both tonsils were enlarged
Constant hawking up of thick, viscid, stringy mucus > after a meal
Choking sensation: in throat, with fulness and heat; just above cricoid cartilage
Constrictive sensation in throat, with stabbing pains in heart, dyspnoea and palpitation
Tickling in throat, with expectoration of stringy mucus.
Appetite
Loss of appetite, with feeling of indigestion.—Desire for stimulants.
Stomach
After eating: sour belching; hawking of stringy mucus >.—Nausea, with cold, chilly feelings over body.
Abdomen
Fulness and oppression in r. hypochondriac region
Pain in region of liver with clay-coloured stool
Fulness and distension of bowels
Tenderness of bowels, with thin, whitish stool.
Stool
Stool: clay-coloured; thin, whitish; large, white.
Urinary Organs
Frequent but scanty urination.—Excessive evacuation of urine.
Respiratory Organs
Tickling and dryness in larynx and throat, with hawking up of thin stringy mucus for many hours;
> after eating
Tightness and constrictive feeling in larynx
Dyspnoea and palpitation on going upstairs
Constant desire to draw breath without relief
Respiration more frequent and laboured.
Chest
Slight pain under sternum, at articulation of third rib
Fulness and constriction under sternum, with lancinating pain through chest
Continued feeling of weight and anxiety in chest
Fulness in chest, with fulness and heat in head and neck, and flushed face.
Heart And Pulse
Increased action of heart, full feeling in neck and head
Palpitation: with flushed hot face and red eyes; with dull headache and flashes before eyes; with heaviness of head, roaring, slight nausea, on going upstairs
Conscious of heart
Palpitation, with vertigo and choking in throat after walking, and on entering house felt faint: tingling and numbness commencing in fingers of l. hand, gradually extending up arm, with irregular, tremulous, and not well-defined pulse; dull, heavy aching in l. arm
Palpitation of heart on slight exertion (pulling down a window)
Palpitation plainly visible over whole chest, < by walking, > sitting still, but renewed by slightest exertion
Increase of heart's action from 72 to 88, after fifteen minutes
A wavy, tremulous sensation in radial artery, felt by finger, pulse intermitting every third beat, easily compressible
Pulse has peculiar double beats, which seem to run into each other, full, soft, and easily compressed
Pulse first weak and small, later full and strong; easily compressed; intermitting every third beat
Much pain over base of heart with dull, heavy pain in l. arm, and tingling and numbness in tips of fingers
Sensation of weight and pressure in region of heart, with occasional sharp, stinging pains, passing from before backwards; heart's action from 70 to 96
Hypertrophy of heart
Pulse rises from 60 to 94 after fifteen minutes, with slight pains in region of heart
Pains darting through heart at night, in bed;
< lying on l. side
Dull, dragging pain in heart not > by any position nor by pressing with hand
Sharp, sticking pain in heart, with constriction in throat, red eyes, flushed face
Pain as if needle were crosswise in ventricles, and pricked at each contraction
Constant dull pain in heart < lying down
Distressing palpitation with increase of dull pain, caused by coughing, laughing, or slight exertion.
Neck And Back
Sensation of fulness in neck and head.
Limbs
Cold feet and hands.
Upper Limbs
Tingling and numbness commencing in fingers of l. hand, gradually extending up l. arm, with irregular, tremulous pulse, not well defined
Dull, heavy aching in l. arm
Tingling and numbness in finger-tips, < lying on l. side
Dull aching in l. arm, as if he had slept on it all night
Rheumatic pain in r. shoulder.
Lower Limbs
Trembling of lower limbs after exercise.
Generalities
On going upstairs: dyspnoea and palpitation.—Feeling of inability to move even a finger.—Nervous and irritable on rising in morning.—Feeling of lameness and soreness through whole body, as from a cold.—Trembling sensation all over, had to lie down.—Desire for stimulants.
Sleep
At night in bed darting through heart
Sleep at night disturbed by all sorts of dreams
Restless turning in bed, with ludicrous dreams
Restless nights with horrid dreams.
Fever
Heat and fulness in neck and head with flushed face and cold feet and hands
Feverish chilliness
Cold, chilly feeling with nausea
Quickly passing febrile symptoms.