In relation to Silicea we must think of all the remedies acting on rheumatism of bones. Ruta acts specially on cartilages and has the sensation as if the pains are from a bruise. In all affections of bones you will find syphilis as a cause. I insist on the value of Phytolacca. It is to be given repeatedly in 3x. I only mention here the other remedies: Mezereum, Kali bichromicum, Kali iodatum, Stillingia, Mercurius, Aurum. I often use Silicea 200 followed by Ruta 30, Arnica 30, Phytolacca
3x.
With Pulsatilla we have the remedies of venous and capillary congestion and circulatory troubles. It is a very important remedy. The group of remedies having erratic pains is related to it and Stellaria is related to circulatory troubles. Kali bichromicum, Lac caninum, Kali sulphuricum are complementaries of Pulsatilla and have like it erratic pains. Colchicum, Ferrum metallicum and Sanguinaria are not erratic.
I have indicated them here because they have circulatory troubles. Colchicum is a remedy for gout, the pericardium is affected by this remedy. Ferrum metallicum is a remedy for anemia and rheumatism of the left shoulder whereas Sanguinaria is a remedy for the rheumatism of the right shoulder.
Finally you have in Cimicifuga a remedy for muscular rheumatism. The first remedy of this group is Arnica, which has contusions and muscular pains. Lac caninum was a patient of Lachesis who has passed into the field of Cimicifuga. Lac caninum is an excellent remedy for rheumatism with neuralgia and pains coming during menopause. Caulophyllum is a good remedy to open a recalcitrant col uteri. It is marvellous for the muscles of the sphincters. Actea spicata is a very important remedy for rheumatism of small joints.
Colocynthis has cramps coming out of cold, better by bending double. Agaricus has spasms, cramps and muscular jerkings. Ranunculus bulbosus, Bryonia and Lachnanthes act on torticollis vertebral rheumatism.
Ground remedies of secondary importance are Nux vomica in relation to Sulphur; Graphites is related to Calcarea carbonica; Arsenicum album is related to Lycopodium; Iodium is related to Cimicifuga, but these remedies are less important.
There are great many more remedies that we could have indicated, but to be more practical we have limited ourselves only to the principal remedies.
SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF THE REMEDIES FOR RHEUMATISM
Basic remedies:-
Phosphorus :- This remedy has particular affinity for the tissues. For this reason its field in rheumatism is very wide. Its pathogenesis is not yet well known but its homoeopathic application must be very wide. It is Dr. F-Bernoville who says that this remedy is to be tried in old sclerous rheumatic patients, having tendency to ankylosis.
Its symptoms are: The patient is generally old having tendency to sclerosis: he is of syphilitic type. Feet are cold; hands hot or burning. Pulse often rapid. Head is easily congested; tendency to vertigo. Desire for cold drinks. Great sensitiveness to change of weather, specially to stormy weather.
The 200th potency is used at an interval of 20 to 30 days according to the reappearance of the symptoms.
Its marked effects on pains as well as on the general condition of the patient have led us to think that in the treatment of chronic rheumatism, this remedy will be necessary to one time or another.
Sulphur:- We are going to give here only some characteristics of this remedy which are seen in chronic rheumatism. (a) Chilly patient, eats less, has itching of the skin with or without eruption. Feet are cold, head is hot. The articulations are stiff and crackling. Drawing and burning pains in the evening or at night, during change of weather. Hyperthyroidism patient. In this case Sulphur is used in decimals, frequently repeated with Thyroid which is given in ponderable doses.
(b) The patient is always very hot, with the feet burning. Congestion of the face, lips and ears are red. Hunger and thirst, goneness feeling in the stomach at 11 A.M. morning diarrhoea. Itching at night in the heat of the bed.
The rheumatic affections are not so much stubborn as in the first type. Use Sulphur 200. A few doses will soon give good results.
Thuja:- It is an antisycotic remedy. It is very often indicated when there is the history of gonorrhoea. Here it is complementary to Medorrhinum. But for its use one should depend on its totality of symptoms even when there is no history of gonorrhoea.
Its characteristics are:
Aggr. cold damp weather. It can be compared with Natrum sulphuricum, Rhus tox and Dulcamara
A left sided remedy. Aggr. 3 to 4 a.m.
Articular pains worse during rest. The patient must move when he is in bed. If he is not sycotic says Kent, Rhus tox will cure him, but when sycosis is intricated in the case thuja or Medorrhinum will be necessary to complete the cure specially when the symptoms appear after the suppression of gonorrhoea. Dark persons with black hair, corpulent, having a big belly, thick skin, greasy, with accentuated features. Varicose veins of the nose; localised sweats of the uncovered parts. Particularly the soles of the feet are sensitive (Medorrhinum).
Tendency to growths (cauliflower growths, condylomes, naeve), Action of Thuja should be completed by Medorrhinum or T.R. Afterwards the symptoms of Sulphur will appear.
Lycopodium:- Lycopodium is an auto-intoxicated, sedentary type, whose liver does not work well. Uricaemic, later on uremic persons.
It has calcium and uric acid deposit on joints.
Persons with emaciated thorax limbs have weak muscles, with the face like that of an old man, having transverse frontal wrinkles; yellow spots on the temples; slow digestion of farinaceous foods; somnolence after meals with distention of the stomach; vertigo, loss of memory.
Aggr. of all symptoms between 4 and 8 p.m.
Drawing, tearing pains aggravated by hot applications amel by slow movements. Desire for constant movement of an arm or of a leg. On foot cold the other hot. Specially the elbows and the small joints are affected (compare Medorrhinum, Natrum phos, Ruta)
Red sand deposit in the urine. The general condition becomes good after this deposit.
At the beginning of the treatment lower dilutions are necessary because a high dilution may block the liver and may cause congestion. The drainer of Lycopodium are Chelidonium, Carduus marianus and Taraxacum (in decimals).
The articular drainers are Bryonia, Rhus tox, Argentum nitricum, etc.
Bryonia :- It is an important remedy for synovitis (Apis. Cantharis). It will be frequently indicated.
Its characteristics are very clear. Stinging pains in joints, very sensitive to pressure (by tips of finger, but better by wide pressure by palms). This characteristics is marked in acute cases when there is strong effusion. However, it is used in chronic cases.
Articular serous inflammation explains the characteristic of the remedy. Aggravation by the least movement. Aggravation by continuous movement. The patient tries to remain completely immobile. The pains are generally fixed and is slightly ameliorated by local heat.
It is the opposite of Rhus tox which is a remedy for the periarticular tissue.
Teste speaks of a Bryonia type with firm flesh, accustomed to rich food. Kent speaks of a gouty type having renal troubles. Others describe Bryonia as a lean, dark, subject with bilious colour of the skin. Clarke says that because of its very wide action we should not look for a definite type.
The chronic type of Bryonia seems to be an auto-intoxicated whose liver and kidneys do not function well. He cannot bear prolonged physical fatigue and excess of dishes. Generally it is a remedy for the serous membranes. It is related to lycopodium, Oxalic acid, Rhus tox.
Rhus toxicodendron :- It is a remedy for the fibrous tissues (Ruta, phytolacca, Rhododendron). The modalities are important: Aggr. by rest and by the first movement. Amel. by continued movement. It is complementary of Bryonia. There is alternation of symptoms in these two remedies. Amel. by heat and aggr. by cold and damp weather.
Compare with Kali iodatum which has aggr. by movement. But Rhus tox is chilly and wants heat and is easily fatigued. Kali iod wants cold, and bears exercises without marked fatigue.
Causticum:- According to Nash Sulphur, Rhus tox, and Causticum are frequently indicated in chronic rheumatism.
Its symptoms ar almost similar to those of Rhus tox. They are to be distinguished. Rhus tox is continually in movement, while Causticum is restless only at night, movement does not ameliorate his pains.
Rhus tox has aggravation in cold and humid weather while Causticum is aggravated in dry weather and particularly in dry cold weather. It is a remedy for tendons which have a tendency to become retracted. The joints are stiff, painful, movement with the sensation of being scorched. Causticum has often a great weakness with a tendency to paresis and trembling. 12th and 30th dilutions are generally suitable.
Argentum nitricum :- We have often seen the rapidity of action of this remedy on pains we well as on functional troubles. In our observations it is applicable to the following symptoms:
Bernoville was a major lecturer in homeopathy, and he was active in Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis, and a founder of the le Syndicat national des médecins homœopathes français in 1932, and a member of the French Society of Homeopathy, and the Society of Homeopathy in the Rhone.
Fortier-Bernoville wrote several books, including Une etude sur Phosphorus (1930), L'Homoeopathie en Medecine Infantile (1931), his best known Comment guerir par l'Homoeopathie (1929, 1937), and an interesting work on iridology, Introduction a l'etude de l'Iridologie (1932).
With Louis-Alcime Rousseau, he wrote several booklets, including Diseases of Respiratory and Digestive Systems of Children, Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic Rheumatism, treatment of hay fever (1929), The importance of chemistry and toxicology in the indications of Phosphorus (1931), and Homeopathic Medicine for Children (1931). He also wrote several short pamphlets, including What We Must Not Do in Homoeopathy, which discusses the logistics of drainage and how to avoid aggravations.
He was an opponent of Kentian homeopathy and a proponent of drainage and artificial phylectenular autotherapy as well.