Alumina


Alumina signs and symptoms of the homeopathy medicine from the Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica by J.H. Clarke. Find out for which conditions and symptoms Alumina is used…


      Argilla. Oxide of Alumina Pure Clay. Al2 O3 3H2O. Trituration.

Clinical

*Anus, *affections of. Boils. Bubo. Catarrh. Chlorosis. *Constipation. Constipation of nursing infants. *Cough. Disappointments, effects of. Dysentery. Dyspepsia. Eczema. Eyes, affections of. Fissures. Fistula. Headache. Hernia. Irritation. Leucorrhoea. Locomotor ataxy. *Nails, *affections of. Otorrhoea. Ozaena. Paralysis. Pregnancy, constipation of. Pregnancy, toothache of. Prostatorrhea. Rhagades. Scrofula. Strabismus. Taste, disordered. Tetters, moist and itching. Throat, affections of. Trismus. Typhus.

Characteristics

Like its relative *Alumen, *Alumina produces irritation of mucous membranes with dryness or extreme secretion and paralysis of involuntary muscles, as those of the rectum and of the nervous and muscular systems generally. *Alumina paralyses the bowels in the same way as lead, to which it is an antidote. Even small and soft Stools are passed with great difficulty. Pregnant women and children are liable to this kind of constipation. A very prominent characteristic is that a person *must strain at stool in order to *urinate. Teste groups *Alumina with *Sepia and *Copaiva. He considers it the chronic of *Sepia as *Silicea is of *Pulsatilla Paralysis of the internal rectus muscle of the eye, causing squint. Also ptosis. Drawing, pains appear in the limbs, a sensation of constriction in several organs. Several painful symptoms show themselves after the midday meal, and continue till evening, when they disappear or are replaced by others which begin only then. On the other hand the pains which appear in the morning or in the evening are abated after eating. Trembling, convulsive movements of the limbs and head, spasms, with tears and laughter alternately. There is exaltation of the whole nervous system. Trembling of the whole body with desire to lie down, which, however, worse the fatigue. Great general fatigue, even after a short walk, but chiefly after speaking. Frequent stretching while sitting. The nates go to sleep while sitting. Drags legs (especially left). Many of the symptoms of locomotor ataxy are reproduced by *Alumina, and it is one of the most useful remedies in that disease. Boenninghausen cured a case with *Aluminium. Sluggishness of action is characteristic of this medicine, urine is slow in passing, great straining to pass even a soft Stool, can only evacuate bowels when standing, has to strain as if abdomen and rectum were paralysed. (*Causticum has defecation only when standing, but the straining is less.) Sensation are slow in being transmitted to the centres. In the mental sphere there is confusion. “When he says anything he feels as if another person had said it, and when he sees anything, as if another person had seen it, or as if he could transfer himself into another, and only then could see.” A feeling of hurry follows, things do not move fast enough. Impulses. Suicidal tendency, a sudden impulse from seeing blood on a knife. Sad, apprehensive, wants to get away, fears going crazy. Mental symptoms mostly come on in the morning on waking. Vertigo on closing eyes. Catarrh is a very general feature. Catarrh with dryness of mucous membranes, The throat looks parched and glazed. The nose is stopped, feels dry, and the point of it is cracked. *Alumina has the fish-bone sensation in the throat on swallowing. There is profuse leucorrhoea running down to the heels, sometimes excoriating. As with the mucous membrane so with the skin: itching eruptions worse from warmth of bed. Eruptions of all indurations, ulcers. Granular eyelids. Hairs fall out all over body. The skin of the face feels as if covered with dried white of egg, or as if a cobweb was on it. Fissures. *Alumina has some curious symptoms in the digestive sphere. There is a craving for dry rice and dry food. It has worse from starch, especially the starch of potatoes. Worse From salt, wine, vinegar, spirits. Burning pains in the back are very characteristic, and especially a sensation as if a hot iron were forced through the lower vertebrae.

There are pulsations in various parts. The pains go upward. Upper left, lower right affected (opposite of *Lycopodium).

The symptoms are worse on alternate days, periodically. Guernsey describes a characteristic periodicity thus: “Patient gets along nicely for a time, then, from no apparent cause, gets worse for a time, then better, and soon a relapse may be worse than the original illness, another relapse not so bad, and so on with longer intervals between.” In afternoons, at new or full moon, worse in the morning on waking. Worse after coitus, worse in cold air, out of doors, in dry weather. They are better by cold washing, by moistening the part, by warm food or drink, by warmth generally.

*Alumina is *suited to persons of sedentary habits who suffer from chronic ailments, to constitutions with diminished animal heat. Psoric persons. The action of *Alumina is slow in developing, and the remedy must not be changed quickly.

Relations.

*Compare: Alum (which has been used on indications taken from the proving of Alumina). *Antidote to: Lead. *Antidoted by: Bryonia, Camph., Chamomilla, Ip. *Complementary: Bryonia *Follows well: Bryonia, Lachesis, Sulphur *Similar to: Alumen, Arg-n. (clergyman’s sore throat, paralysis), Baryta carb. (hypochondriasis of aged, constipation), Bryonia, Calcarea, Chamomilla (useful as an intermediate remedy), Conium (old people, squint), Ferrum (chlorosis, relaxed abdomen, disgust for meat, etc.), Ferr-i. (profuse transparent leucorrhoea), Graphites (chlorosis, skin rough, chapped, itching, nails, blepharitis, etc.), Ip., Kali-bi. (clergyman’s sore throat), Lachesis (sad on waking, climaxis), Lycopodium (clergyman’s sore throat), Pic-ac., Plumb. (colic, constipation), Pulsatilla (tearful, peevish, head, etc., better in open air, ozaena, taste lost, averse to meat, scanty menses, complaints at puberty, lack of animal heat, soles of feet sore, worse walking, toes red, itching, etc.), Ruta (loss of power of internal recti), Sepia (irritable, tearful, ozaena, scanty menses, puberty, prolapsus uteri, inactive rectum, weakness in urinary organs, etc.), Silicea, Sulphur, Zincum met. (inner canthus, granular lids, worse from wine.).

Causation

Anger. Disappointments. Lifting. Bodily exertion.

Mind

Humour morose, sad, with despair of cure. Involuntary tears. Anguish and anxiety as if one were threatened with some fatal accident, or had committed some crime. Time passes too slowly, intolerable *ennui, an hour seems half a day. Seeing blood on a knife she has horrid ideas of killing herself, though she abhors the idea. Apprehensions. Disposition to be frightened. Air sorrowful and morose. Ill-humour, with unfitness for Labour. Disposition to be angry. Obstinate, and contradictory humour. Taking everything in bad part. Humour changeable, at one time bold, at another timid. Weakness of memory. Distraction, inadvertence, and incapability of following up an idea. Absence of ideas. Blunders in speaking. Great vivacity of apprehension, alternately with inadvertence, and deprivation of sight and hearing. Sensation, as if self-consciousness were outside the body.

Head

Dizziness, whirling sensation, everything turns in a circle, most frequently so as to cause falling, sometimes with nausea, or tension in the nape of the neck, worse before breakfast, on opening eyes, when closing eyes. Easily made drunk. Vertigo, with white stars before the eyes. State of intoxication after smoking tobacco, or after having taken the weakest spirituous drink, and principally in the morning. Headache, as if one were dragged by the hair, or smart shootings in the brain, with inclination to vomit. Stitches in the brain with nausea. Heaviness of the head, with paleness of face, and fatigue. Compressive cephalalgia. Headache with constipation. Headache from chronic catarrhs in the head. Beatings and pulsations in the head. Congestion of blood towards the eyes and nose, with pressure in the forehead and epistaxis, with a chill when walking in the open air, better after lying or eating. Headache worse while walking in the open air, better lying down, the head being softly supported. Itching in the forehead. Pain, as from excoriation, in the scalp. (Moist crusts on the temples.) Dryness of the hair. Itching in the scalp, with profuse desquamation.

Eyes

Pressure on the eyes, which renders it impossible to open them. Pressure, as from a grain of sand, in the corner of the eye, in the evening. Sensation of burning in the eyes, with nocturnal agglutination of the lids, and diurnal lachrymation. Sensation of coldness in the eyes and eyelids on walking in open air. Swelling of the eyelids. Paralysis of the upper lid. Hordeolum. Eyelashes fall out. Inclination to stare. Spasmodic drawing of the lids at night, with pain in the eyes on opening them. Stitches in the eyes. Photophobia. Confusion of sight, as from a mist, and sparkling before the eyes. Yellow aspect of all objects. Coloured reflection round the candle in the evening. Strabismus of both eyes, especially loss of power of internal rectus. Glittering before the eyes on shutting them. Far sight.

John Henry Clarke
John Henry Clarke MD (1853 – November 24, 1931 was a prominent English classical homeopath. Dr. Clarke was a busy practitioner. As a physician he not only had his own clinic in Piccadilly, London, but he also was a consultant at the London Homeopathic Hospital and researched into new remedies — nosodes. For many years, he was the editor of The Homeopathic World. He wrote many books, his best known were Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and Repertory of Materia Medica