Synonym – Sanguinaria Canadensis. Natural order – Papaveraceae. Common name – Blood Root. Habitat – An indigenous perennial plant. Preparation – Tincture from the fresh root.
GENERAL ANALYSIS
Affects chiefly the respiratory mucous membrane, producing irritation and catarrhal irritation. It has a decided influence upon the pneumogastric nerve, and through it creates derangement of the liver and digestive tract.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS
Head Vertigo in morning on rising from a sitting or stooping position (Bryonia); on quickly turning the head (Calcarea c.) or looking upward (Calcarea c., Cuprum). Determination of blood to the head, with whizzing in the ears, and flushes of heat (Aconite). Headache in morning; worse from stooping and moving about. Dull, pressive frontal headache (Euphrasia, Mercurius cor.). Headache occurring in paroxysms (Cinchona). Headache begins in occiput (Veratrum vir.), spreads upward, and settles over right eye. Headache, as if it would burst (Bryonia, Caps., Cinchona, Pulsatilla, Natr. mur.), in forehead and temples; mostly right; better in open air (Pulsatilla, Sepia). Pain over eyes in morning lasting all day; on rising from a seat, with vertigo. Pain in occiput and nape in afternoon. Headache with nausea and chilliness, followed by flushes of heat, extending from head to stomach. Throbbing headache, worse from motion or stooping; with bitter vomiting.
Eyes. Pupils dilated (Ailanth., Belladonna, Cicuta, Hyoscyamus). Burning dryness in the eyes, followed by copious lachrymation (Arsenicum, Euphr.). Pain in eyeballs on moving them. Balls sore, with darting through them and dim vision.
Ears. Burning of the ears; cheeks red. Earache, with headache, with stinging in the ears and vertigo. Humming and roaring in the ears, with painful sensitiveness to sudden sounds, in the women at the climacteric.
Nose. Fluent coryza, with frequent sneezing (Aconite, Arsenicum, Cepa, Gelsemium, Iris, Rumex); watery, acrid; with tingling; with heavy pain at root of nose and stinging in nose. Dry coryza, as from a sudden cold. Alternately fluent and dry coryza. Loss of smell.
Face Circumscribed redness of one or both cheeks (Kreosotum). Paleness of the face, with disposition to vomit. Sensation of dryness of the lips. Pain in cheek-bones. Neuralgia in upper jaw, extending to nose, eye, ear, neck and side of head; shooting, burning pains; must kneel down and hold head tightly to the floor.
Mouth. Loss of taste, with burnt feeling on the tongue (Pulsatilla). Sores on gums and roof of mouth.
Throat Feels swollen, as if to suffocation, when swallowing, worse on right side. Pain on swallowing. Feeling of dryness in the throat; not relieved by drinking. Throat sore, as if raw and denuded (Argentum nit., Arum.).
Stomach Craving for he knows not what; for spiced things (Phosphorus). Deathly nausea, in paroxysms (Ant. tart.), with much salivation; with headache, chill and heat. Nausea; not relieved by vomiting. Vomiting of bitter water; of sour, acrid fluids; of ingesta (Ipecac., Phosphorus, Veratrum alb.); of worms (Aconite, Sabad.). Sensation of emptiness in the stomach, with faint, feverish feeling. Soreness and pressure in epigastrium; worse after eating. Burning in the stomach (Arsenicum, Cantharis, Iris, Veratrum alb).
Stool Diarrhoeic stool, mixed with much flatus (Aloe.). Diarrhoea following coryza; pains in chest, and cough.
Urinary Organs Climacteric disorders, especially flushes of heat, and leucorrhoea (Lachesis). Abdominal pains, as if menses would appear (Aloe, Caulophyllum, Cimic., Pulsatilla). Stitches in nipples, especially right.
Respiratory Organs. Dry, hacking cough, caused by tickling in throat (Hepar s., Phosphorus, Rumex, Sepia), with dryness of throat; crawling sensation, extending down behind the sternum; evenings after lying down. Dry cough, awaking from sleep; not ceasing until after he sits up in bed and passes flatus, upward and downward. Cough, with circumscribed redness of the cheeks; pain in the chest and coryza. Severe dyspnoea and constriction of chest, with inclination to take deep inspirations. Constant pressure and heaviness in upper part of chest, with difficult breathing. Sharp, pinching, myalgic pain midway between sternum and right nipple. Intense pain and burning under sternum, and in right side of chest. Burning below right arm and clavicle, streaming down to hepatic region at 4 P.M. Acute stitches in right side of chest, near nipple (Bryonia). Expectoration tough, difficult; rust- colored; extreme dyspnoea; pneumonia; hepatization. Pain in right chest to the shoulder; can only with difficulty place hand on top of head. Burning pain between breasts in afternoon. worse on right side. Exceedingly offensive breath (Caps., Croc.) and expectoration.
Heart and Pulse. Irregularity of the heart’s action, and of the pulse, with coldness, insensibility, etc. Pulse slow, irregular, feeble.
Neck and Back. Rheumatic pains in nape of neck, shoulders and arms.
Generalities. Great weakness and prostration, especially in morning on waking. general torpor and languor. Sensation as if hot water were poured from breast into abdomen. An uncomfortable prickling sensation of warmth spreading over whole body. Ulcers about the nails.
Fever. Burning heat, rapidly alternating with chill and shivering. Heat flying from head to stomach. Flushes of heat; glow of warmth over body (Calcarea c.).
Aggravation Morning and evening; from light, noise and motion.
Amelioration. When lying quiet; in the dark room; after vomiting.
Compare Ant. tart., Belladonna, Bryonia, Chelidonium, Hepar s., Iris, Lycopodium, Mercurius, Natr. mur., Phosphorus, Rumex, Squilla, Sanguinaria, Spongia; follows Belladonna well in scarlet fever.
Sanguinaria Antidotes Opium, Rhus tox.
THERAPEUTICS.
The chief use of Sanguinaria is in the treatment of certain respiratory diseases and various forms of headache. Nasal catarrh, with dull frontal headache, pain over root of nose, sore throat, etc. Acute coryza, frequent sneezing with pain over and in eyeballs, at root of nose, etc. Aphonia. Laryngitis. Croup. Whooping cough. OEdema of glottis. Asthma. Especially valuable in pneumonia, rather subacute in character. After exudation, dry cough, tough, rust-colored expectoration, extreme dyspnoea, circumscribed redness of cheeks, better when lying on the back. Hypostatic pneumonia. Typhoid pneumonia. A valuable remedy when phthisis follows pneumonia. Often of great service in tuberculosis, hectic fever, circumscribed redness of one or both cheeks, haemoptysis. Hydrothorax. May be indicated in a variety of headaches, catarrhal, gastric and climacteric. The most characteristic is a sick headache, beginning in the occiput, spreading upwards and settling over the right eye. Other forms of headache are detailed in pathogenesis. Catarrhal conjunctivitis, especially of right eye, with other characteristic symptoms. Blepharadenitis. Polypus of the ear. Nasal polypus. Neuralgia of face (see clinical symptoms under “Face”). Pharyngitis, feeling of dryness and burning as if scalded, feels raw and denuded, worse on right side. Ulcerated sore throat. Diphtheria, pearly coating on palate and fauces. Gastric derangements, with nausea, not relieved by vomiting, headache, etc. Nausea during pregnancy. Ulcer in stomach with Sanguinaria symptoms, flushes of heat rising into the head, better from vomiting. Sometimes useful in jaundice; hepatic derangements. Catarrhal diarrhoea or dysentery following or accompanying characteristic coryza. Often a useful remedy for the flushes of heat, headache, leucorrhoea, etc., Occurring at the climacteric period. Polypus of uterus. Profuse, irregular or suppressed menstruation, with other Sanguinaria symptoms. Ulceration of os uteri; foetid discharge. Sore, painful nipples. Sometimes indicated in rheumatism of nape, shoulders and arms, worse at night in bed.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).