Euphrasia officinalis. Eyebright. N.O.Scrophulariaceae. Tincture of the whole plant.
PATHOGENESIS
Coryza – THE PROVINGS OF EUPHRASIA show that its chef influence is on the upper respiratory tract, which includes the mucous membrane of the eyes and nose, the larynx, and upper portion of the trachea. It is makes the head feel heavy and dazed, and there is a dull, pressing pain in the forehead, that extends to the supra-orbital region and the eyes and is better in the open air, and from cold washing. The eyes itch, burn and smart, especially along the margins of the lids, the canthi itch and are red, the lids may be swollen, and the palpebral and ocular conjunctivae are red, swollen and traversed by injected vessels. There is lachrymation of acrid tears, the flow of which relieves, to some extent the burning, smarting in the eyes. Besides the tears there is a tendency to the accumulation of mucus between the lids and on the cornea, which obscures the sight and causes a constant impulse to blink to clear it away. There is dislike to light and preference for a darkened room. The skin round the eyes is irritated. Toothache and drawing and stitching pains are felt in lower jaw. Accompanying the eye symptoms a fluent coryza is usually present, with frequent sneezing and much watery mucus from the discharge from which is bland. The larynx is also affected and with the upper part of the trachea is irritated and secretes copious mucus which is expelled by a short, backing cough. The cough is accompanied by pressure under the sternum, and there are flying pains here and there in the chest.
Fever.-Accompanying the coryza is a feeling of general weariness and lassitude, with febrile symptoms such as chilliness, worse at night, when the patient cannot keep warm in bed, and heat during the day, with red face and cold hands. Perspiration is often confined to the front of the body, and is most profuse on the chest.
Back and Limbs.-Pains of various kinds, mostly shooting or drawing, occur in the limbs, their principal locations being the upper arms, the adductors of the thighs and the finger and toes. The fingers become numb and “due away.” A sensation of a heavy weight in the sacrum is felt on rising, and is increased to a pain, as of dislocation, on bending forwards or twisting sideways.
Digestive Tract.-There is much yawning, worse when walking in the open air, also nausea and eructation, considerable discomfort in the stomach, from a sensation of fulness, pinching pains round the navel, borborygmi and stools that are at first firm or constipated, and then pappy or diarrhoeic. There are piles, which itch and burn, and are relieved by passing a soft stool.
The urine is increased in quantity. The increased amount and greater frequency of micturition are more marked at night, and are accompanied by chilliness, even when the patient is covered with bedclothes.
Sleep.-He is very drowsy, and cannot get to sleep till midnight or after, he wakes up with general chilliness, and the knees and thighs especially feel cold.
THERAPEUTICS.
Euphrasia is unrivalled as a remedy for fluent coryza, for catarrhal inflammation of the eyes and nose with profuse secretion. the secretion of tears is acrid and causes smarting, while that from the nose is bland. In this respect euphrasia is the reverse of allium cepa, which produces an irritating nasal discharge, and a mild ocular one. The conjunctival secretion in euphrasia is profuse, and may be either watery or of mucus, but is always irritating and is accompanied by redness of the conjunctiva and burning and itching of the palpebral margins. The coryza is worse at night and on lying down. Ordinary acute coryza, simple conjunctivitis and the coryza at the commencement of measles are all conditions for which euphrasia should be prescribed when the symptoms of catarrh are as above stated. The coryza may extend to the larynx and upper part of the trachea, so that the curative action of this remedy includes the cough which often succeeds a cold in the head. The cough and dyspnoea are better at night and on lying down (pulsatilla the reverse), and worse in the morning and in the daytime. The reverse is the case with the coryza symptoms. Expectoration is profuse and easy, requiring no effort, sputum coming up almost spontaneously. The pain in the eyes and the coryza are worse in the open air, and wind whether warm or cold causes lachrymation. A cough coming on after the disappearance of haemorrhoids has been cured with euphrasia. Its remedial action extends further than these affections, and it is useful in the beginning of strumous ophthalmia, to prevent ulceration of the cornea, and also to remove specks and opacities left on the cornea from previous ulceration, or from injuries to the eyeballs.
LEADING INDICATIONS.
(1) Catarrhal inflammation of the upper respiratory tract with profuse secretion.
(2) Secretion from eyes, acrid and irritating; from nose, bland.
(3) Cough, with easy expectoration of much mucus, better at night, worse in the morning and through the day.
(4) Coryza, worse by night, better in the day; cough, worse by day and better in the night.
(5) Conjunctivitis; strumous and rheumatic ophthalmia; corneal opacities.
AGGRAVATION :
From sunlight, warm wind, night (coryza), lying down (coryza), cold wind and weather (lachrymation), daytime and morning (cough).
AMELIORATION :
From lying down (cough), at night, daytime (coryza), cold washing (headache and piles), lachrymation (burning and smarting in the eyes), soft stool (piles).
Edwin Awdas Neatby founded the Missionary School of Homeopathy and the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1903, and run by the British Homeopathic Association. He died in East Grinstead, Sussex, on the 1st December 1933. Edwin Awdas Neatby wrote The place of operation in the treatment of uterine fibroids, Modern developments in medicine, Pleural effusions in children, Manual of Homoeo Therapeutics,