Mephitis Putorius
Mephitis · Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 10,623 chars · source ↗
General
Mephitis.
Mephitis putorius. Skunk. N. O. Mustelidae. Alcoholic dilution of the liquid contained in the anal glands.
Clinical
Asthma. Blindness. Choking, easy. Cold, sensitiveness to. Eyes, affections of. Laryngismus. Sight, weak. Whooping-cough.
Characteristics
Mephitis was proved by Hering in the 30th. Among the symptoms he developed was "choking while eating or drinking," and "cough on reading aloud, while talking, and after drinking; caused by choking." Lower ribs painful to touch or pressure, esp. < on coughing or sneezing. Neidhard gave Meph. to "a young man afflicted with symptoms of consumption," in whom it produced "a spasmodic cough with a crowing sound, lasting all night and returning several times." This homoeopathic aggravation suggested to Neidhard to use Meph. in whooping-cough, and this is his conclusion, quoted by Hering: "If the facts collected since 1851, which are numerous, do not prove that Meth. will supersede all other remedies in whooping-cough, it certainly may be considered a valuable specific.
In order to ensure its full success, it should be exhibited in the lower dilutions, from one to three, at least in severe cases." Guernsey gives it as: "Whooping, or any other kind of cough which is very violent, coming on spasmodically, and seeming as though each spell would terminate life." Farrington says the note of Meph. is nervous exhaustion. In whooping-cough the catarrh is slight, whoop decided; < at night and after lying down. Suffocative feeling; cannot exhale; vomits food sometimes hours after eating.
Asthma of drunkards; of consumptives (after Dros.). T. M. Stewart reports (H.
R., xvi. 71) the case of a man, 47, who had a constant hacking cough coming on during conversation. For this the uvula was amputated. As soon as he recovered from the operation the condition was this: "Coughs after reading aloud, or drinking any fluid; cough spasmodic, hollow, hoarse, < at night and on lying down; loose in mornings." Amb., Cham., K. bi., Rumex, Pho., failed to relieve; Meph. 1m. cured promptly
Another point about Meth. is the rush of warmth it causes to various parts. It enables patients to endure extreme cold; makes them less chilly in cold weather. Washing in ice-water is pleasant. Awakens at night with congestion to legs.
Legs uneasy as if they would become insensible. Fidgety feet. A short sleep seems to refresh. A.
M. Cushing calls attention to the possibilities of the remedy in weak sight (H. R., iv. 237), and tells of a friend of his who had a dose direct from the skunk injected into his eyes: "It was as though fire had entered his eyes." For a time he was totally blind; but when his sight returned it was so keen that he could count the panes in a window said to be two miles distant. In another case, after getting the poison out of the eye, there was for weeks after a sensation on opening the lids as of breaking glass.
On Farrington's advice it was antidoted by Crotal. Rest and lying down <. Sitting up and motion >. < Night and daybreak.
Warm stove > colic from cold. > Cold washing. Ice-water < asthma. Touch <.
Relations
According to Hering, Meph. has a very short action. Antidoted by: Camph., but only temporarily. Crotal. relieved eye symptoms. Follows well: Dros.
(in cough of consumptives). Compare: Whooping-cough, Coral. (Coral has smothering before the cough and great exhaustion after). Dros.
(Dros. has frequent spells of barking cough; < after twelve midnight; holds sides; vomits if cannot raise sputa). Cough < from reading or writing, Aur., Nux, Plat. Cough in night, Rumex (< 2 a.m.), Sticta (with splitting headache).
Awakes at night with congestion to legs, Aur. Short sleep seems to refresh, Flu. ac., Menth. Night-blindness, Bell. Aversion to tobacco-smoke, Ign.
Easy choking, Lach. Fidgety feet, Tarent., Meny., Zinc., Caust., Ars., Asaf., Asar., Act. r., Aur., Sticta. Loquacity, Agar., Lach. Nervous symptoms generally, Castor, Mosch.
Mind
Ill-humour about trifles or imaginary troubles
Unfitness for intellectual labour, caused by too lively an imagination, excessive loquacity, as from drinking too much
Excitement, with heat in head
Dejection, with painful muscles
Indolence, with desire to stretch.
Head
Vertigo on stooping suddenly, when seated, when moving the head, when turning in bed, or in the evening
Confused dulness in the head, as if it had grown larger, accompanied by ill-humour and nausea
Violent headache, with sensation of fulness, as if caused by a weight or by pressure, esp. in the occiput
Violent pain in head as if a fulness were pressing upwards
Sensation in (back of head) various parts, as if the finger were pressed into them
Pain above eyes
Headache from motion of a carriage, or else in evening.
Eyes
Lancination in eyes like the pricking of needles
Pains in eyes on turning them (in certain directions), as if some foreign body were in them, or as if they were much fatigued
Heat, burning, and aching in eyes, esp. morning and evening
As of fire thrown into eye
Sensation on opening the lids as of breaking glass
Aching (pressing) of eyelids, and burning on margins, as if a stye were forming
Injection of veins in sclerotica
Redness of conjunctiva, as from ecchymosis
Myopia
Confusion of letters when reading (they become blurred, he is unable to discern them, they run together)
Inability to read small print
Nocturnal blindness
While the sight is weak there are generally pains in eyes or head
Eyes affected principally in evening.
Ears
Tearing in the ears, or in the jaw and teeth
Otalgia
Itching heat, redness, blisters, and erysipelas in the external part of the (r.) ear.
Nose
Dryness of the nose
Epistaxis
Prolonged inclination to sneeze
Fluent coryza, with pain, as from excoriation in the chest.
Teeth
Pains in teeth which are carious (molars), esp. in lower jaw
Sudden shocks in roots of teeth
Drawing and tearing in teeth.
10, 11.
Appetite and Stomach
Nausea, with scraping in throat (emptiness in stomach), and sensation as if the head were swollen, when fasting
Sobbing eructations
Risings, > by discharge of flatus
Tendency to choke, when drinking and speaking
Troublesome and ineffectual want to hawk
Metallic (coppery) taste
Desire for salted food
Hunger, alternating with absence of appetite
Absence of appetite in morning, and also repugnance to tobacco-smoke
Painful weariness, and desire to sleep after a meal.
Abdomen
Pains in hypochondria
Rheumatic pains in r. side (pressure), or pains as from flatulency (in l. side)
Aching (in region of liver) in stomach, with colic
Sensation of emptiness in stomach and nausea
Colic, as from diarrhoea, but without evacuation
Aching and movements in abdomen, as if caused by a chill, with sensation of coldness, trembling, and want to urinate, relieved when near fire
Pains in abdomen in evening.
Stool And Anus
Evacuations infrequent, but liquid.—Diarrhoea.
Urinary Organs
Frequent want to make water, esp. at night, with emission of clear urine.—The urine becomes turbid (in morning), and deposits a sediment, in evening, after an attack of fever.
Male Sexual Organs
Itching in scrotum.—Heat in genital organs.
Female Sexual Organs
Excoriation of genital organs, in females, and swelling of labia majora.
Respiratory Organs
Cough when reading aloud, when speaking, and after a fit of choking whilst drinking (liability to have something get into larynx)
Cough in morning, with expectoration proceeding from catarrh
Mucus expelled by a fit of coughing every morning
Catarrhal sufferings
Pains in (l.) ribs, when touched, but esp. when coughing and sneezing
Cough with fluent coryza and soreness in chest
Pain, as from excoriation, in back part of ribs, and in chest, when taking a deep inspiration, and when moving the back
Rattling cough every morning
Whooping-cough, < at night and after lying down; with convulsions; with complete suffocative feeling, he cannot exhale; vomiting of all food some hours after eating, bloated face
Pains in chest (on last l. short rib) when touching and pressing on it; but esp. when coughing and sneezing
Asthma, as from inhaling vapour of sulphur; of drunkards; during sleep.
Neck And Back
Pains in (r.) side of neck
Tension in muscles of nape
Pain, and a sort of paralysis, in back and in all limbs
Lancination in spine during motion
Contusive pains in loins in morning.
Upper Limbs
Rheumatic pains in arms, with paralytic drawings, > by movement
Uneasiness in (l.) arm, which is, as it were, insensible
Trembling in arm on resting upon it
Jerking in hand
Distressing sensation in first phalanx of finger, which renders it needful to stretch and crack it.
Lower Limbs
Drawing and rheumatic pains in thighs, hip, and foot, but chiefly in leg
Contusive pains in knee
Cramp-like and sudden pain in (l.) foot, which causes patient to hop
Uneasiness in legs, as if they were about to go to sleep
Lancinations in foot
Pain in heel, resembling gout
Pricking or sensation of pinching in great toe (as if it were being pinched off)
Burning in little toe
Constant pains and burning in corns.
Generalities
Rheumatic pains Shifting pains, with want to urinate Occasionally a sensation as if struck by electric sparks Convulsions
Sensation of paralysis, esp. during the pains Great dejection and lassitude, during which the muscles are painful when touched or exercised Indolence, with desire to stretch, and stretching Internal agitation of whole body, with sensation of unspeakable uneasiness
Slight quivering of the nerves, as far as interior of bones, causing a good deal of anxiety Many symptoms manifest themselves in morning.
Sleep
Great inclination to sleep, so great that patient will fall asleep even when in company
Diurnal sleepiness, with sound sleep at night
Frequent yawning, which causes tears to flow
Very vivid dreams, the recollection of which is retained
Dreams of fire, water, distressing losses, of spitting of blood, &c
Nightmare
Asthma during sleep
Waking at night, with rush of blood to, and heat in limbs (lower legs)
Somnolent heaviness in morning, with burning in eyes and tearing in limbs; greatly > by a change of position
Frequent and early waking, often with a feeling of good health.
Fever
Coldness in evening, with want to make water, and colic, as if preceding diarrhoea
Heat in head, in genital organs and in legs, at night
Increased heat, esp. in morning, with skin less sensitive to cold and cold water
Washing with cold water is found very agreeable.