BEFORE closing the volume, I may usefully add a few indications for the medicines most commonly called for in cases of haemorrhoids and constipation.
Aesculus hip. Blind piles, constipation, with lumpy stool, and pain in the back. Feeling as if the rectum were full of dry chips. I once permanently cured constipation in a confirmed morphia-drinker with this remedy. It is a very old custom among some country people to carry a horsechestnut in the pocket as a preventive against piles.
Alumen. Antidotes cases of lead-poisoning. Stools like clay- coloured stones. Bleeding with stool.
Alumina. Paralysis of rectum. Stools hard and knotty. Even soft stools require great straining. Piles, itching and burning.
Bryonia. Large, dry, whitish stools, evacuated with much pain. Headache worse on motion. Sensation as of a load in the stomach after meals.
Capsicum. Homeopathic medicine for Protruding piles, with burning pain.
Causticum is a medicine which has paralytic symptoms prominent, and hence corresponds to cases where there is loss of power in the lower bowel. Soreness is a leading indication for its use in piles.
Graphites. Useful in many cases of extreme constipation, hard lumpy stools; lumps often united with mucous threads. Piles; fissure; moist eczema, with irritation round anus.
Hamamelis. I have said so much of this medicine in the text that there is little to add about it here. It is a safe medicine to begin with in any case of piles, and may be used internally and locally. It is especially valuable where there is much bleeding.
Hydrastis canadensis is a medicine which has proved very helpful in many cases. This medicine has cured many cases of cancer in its time, and it is a singular fact that many cancer patients are also constipated. A sluggish state of the bowels, inaction of the liver, light-coloured stools, piles, and indigestion with loaded tongue, are the indications for Hydrastis.
Lycopodium. Haemorrhoids or constipation; gouty, flatulent subjects. Urine deposits red sand. Symptoms worse in the afternoon.
Magnesia mur. Conglomerate stool like sheep’s dung. Pains in liver.
Nat.mur. Chronic cases. Persons who have suffered from malaria and been dosed with quinine. Headache on waking in the morning, getting better later in the day. Inactivity of the lower bowel. After a motion it seems as if more remained behind.
Nitric acid. Has a very wide range of usefulness in cases of constipation, haemorrhoids, fissures, ulceration, and cancer of the rectum. Burning, cutting pains before, during, and after stools are the chief indications for its use.
Nux vomica. Especially suited to sedentary persons, inclined to be chilly. Restless, waking early in the morning, and falling into a heavy sleep later. A leading indication for Nux vomica is frequent urging, with inability to pass a motion.
Opium. Obstinate constipation. Constipation with drowsiness. Stool in small black balls like marbles.
Phosphorus. Constipation; stool long, hard, and dry, like a dog’s. Piles. Pains darting up rectum.
Plumbum met. and Plumbum acet. Aggravated cases of constipation; paralyses of the bowel, sometimes with very painful colic. A leading indication is an appearance as if the body were drawn in at the navel. On the other hand, many cases of “consumptive bowels” with large abdomen and inveterate constipation have been completely cured with this remedy.
Sulphur. Piles and constipation inpatients who are subject to skin irritation, acidity, headaches, intolerance of warmth, and sinking sensations, worse in forenoon.
