Gum Ammoniac is obtained from Dorema Ammoniacum, Don, natural order Umbelliferae. For use the gum (inspissated juice) is first triturated. In general Ammoniac acts on all the mucous membranes, at first causing diminished then increased secretions (see eye, throat, bowels and bronchi). The pains developed by the provings are noteworthy, especially violent in the lower extremities; notice the pains referred to the caecal region; the disturbance of vision, etc. It was formerly used largely as an expectorant in chronic bronchitis and asthma. Allies.– Asaf, Senega., Ammon-mur., Ferrum.
Generalities
Stitches in various parts in evening, on l. great toe, l. knee and in chest. Fermentation here and there. Pulsation in whole body, with restlessness, delaying sleep, though the had drunk less beer than usual. Sluggishness on rising, with drowsiness, depression of spirits, physical heaviness and weariness. Weariness on least motion; weariness, with bruised feeling in limbs.
Mind
Melancholy; and discomfort. Ill humor; with uneasiness. Disinclination for anything. Incapacity for mental exertion.
Head
Stitches through. Aching; at night, preventing sleep; in whole head at noon, especially in supraorbital region and occiput. Confusion in afternoon; in evening; with heaviness and aching, and with drowsiness; with sleepiness, weariness of limbs and pain in crural nerve. Heaviness. Vertigo while reading, passing into headache, which lasted into the night.
Forehead, aching; (<) all day till evening; r. half; and over eyes; and over eyes, stronger in temporal region, (>) after dinner; with confusion of head and drowsiness. Confusion in sinciput, with weakness of sight and heaviness in loins. Stitching in l. temple. Tearing in l. side of head. Fuzzy sensation at occiput. Pustules where hair ceased. Itching vesicles on l. occiput where the hair ceased and a vesicle in beard in r. side of face. Stitches as from a knife in middle of scalp. Itching; more in vertex and below; on l. side of occiput where hair ceased; on occiput where hair ceased, with pustules under the hair. Prickling when scratched.
Eyes
Drawing, stitching. Tension and dull stitching, (<) stooping. Dry feeling, with sensation of a foreign body between l. upper lid and ball. Weariness after reading. Aching in upper part of ball. Prickling in upper half of ball. Purulent matter in inner canthi, (<) r. morning on waking. Stitches in r. lower lid, (<) moving lids, touching them or stooping; throbbing pricking in l. upper, followed by pressure. Pains in lower had disappeared and only a hard pellicle could be felt in l. Feeling as if a gland were swollen under a lid.
Vision.– Beams of light and sparks proceeding from eyes and a burning light surrounded by brilliant colored rings. Dim, almost lost, in evening, with stars and fiery points moving before eyes; dim in evening, (<) morning after rising, with warmth in eyes; as through a thick mist or cloud of dust in evening. Of a waving cloud of dust. Of floating dust before eyes (which were heavy from sleep), with pressure upon orbital region. Daylight hurts eyes, cannot read without straining eyes.
Ears
Stitches in r.; at noon. Deep-seated tearings in r. external auditory passage. Humming. Clinking in l. at 10 P.M. when scratching occiput.
Nose
Mouth and throat dry on waking. Profuse mucous discharge from nose. Frequent sneezing.
Face
Countenance changed and she became pale. Drawing in l. zygoma late in evening, extending to temples. Lips dry and burning.
Mouth
Short rheumatic stitches in l. eye-tooth. Dull stitching jerking pains in two l. lower incisors at 7 O’ clock. Yellowish coat on tongue; with bitter taste. Dry roughness in tip of tongue and in hard palate; in posterior part of hard palate, with pressure in pit of stomach. Dryness of mouth and oppression of chest, (<) morning. Taste clayey; flat, somewhat sweetish, in morning; bitter no taste in fore part of tongue, but nauseating, bitter in pharynx, (>) after eating.
Throat
Sticking from region of r. submaxillary glands into mouth. Feeling of something sticking deep in throat, necessitating swallowing. Scraping and burning in throat and oesophagus. Roughness; and dryness. Fulness extending up into throat at 10 A.M.; fulness in throat and gullet, almost inducing nausea. Peculiar sensation, causing cough, (>) after eating. Sensation after swallowing as from a dry cough. Scraping in oesophagus.
Stomach
Eructations; of resinous odor; of resinous bitter taste; violent. Nausea. Pressure; after supper; in pit, with tension; in pit, alternating with pressure and heaviness in pubic region. Burning in pit; with pressure.
Abdomen
Rumbling after 1 P.M.; rumbling, with confusion in sinciput; rumbling, then soft stool, with much flatus. Flatus copious at night; copious sour in morning; strong smelling. Cutting. Griping. Pain; in afternoon; with borborygmus.
Stitches under ribs and navel, (<) l. side; under l. short ribs and between superior and anterior spinous processes of ilium and l. side of navel; under r. short ribs, in caecal region, and after rising, in r. ear; under r. short ribs at 9 O’clock, also at 8 A.M., noon and evening; fleeting, under short ribs in morning on waking, and in caecum. Pain about navel, with tension as if pressed together. Stitches in caecum at 7 O’clock; the stitches in caecum alternated with similar pains in corresponding part of l. side; jerking, in caecum, returning on change of posture, (<) reclining towards l., when lying. Pain in caecum, then in corresponding point on l. side.
Hypogastrium. – Stitches between crest of l. ilium and navel, then in caecal region; in r. pubic region, almost in spermatic cord, returning in the evening. Cutting below navel after dinner. Pain and tension below l. side of navel, from which there was developed a stitching (apparently superficial). Pain in pubic region; with heaviness, also the same alternating with pain in pit of stomach; drawing pains about lower abdomen; rheumatic pain in l. side of pelvis. Jerking, drawing in l. groin.
Rectum
Pressure on while sitting.
Stools
Fluid. Copious; and mucous. Pappy, in morning; in afternoon, with rumbling in abdomen; frequently after 1.P.M. Soft; and dark brown; and unsatisfactory. Insufficient in morning, then a pappy one at 1.30, after dinner; stools diminished while urine was increased, with increase of the pain in pubic region. Delayed till evening; delayed and firm. Hard, sluggish. Difficult, even when there was slight urging the rectum was so inactive that the stool was affected only by effort and with interruptions.
Urinary Organs
Stitches through fossa navicularis. Burning at orifice of urethra, diminishing interiorly. Some drops of urine were discharged after urinating. Urine and sweat increased, with diminished stools. Urine had a peculiar smell; contained much mucus. uric acid increased.
Sexual Organs
Stitches at root of penis; in spermatic cord and in l. pubic region; r. spermatic cord in evening; r. spermatic cord while walking; drawing, in l. spermatic cord at 11 O’clock. Aching drawing in testicles. Drawing pain along spermatic cord; in evening. Drawing in r. spermatic cord, intermittent, in region of l. spermatic cord.
Respiratory Organs
Tickling in trachea. Voice hoarse. Coughing up mornings thickish mucus from larynx. Mucous expectoration. Dyspnoea and oppression of chest. Respiration accelerated. Respiration short and more in upper part of lungs, with anxiety and discomfort.
Clinical Ammoniacum has obtained some repute for the relief of humid asthma, and catarrhal affections of the air passages, as an expectorant. It has relieved severe bronchitis with free mucus, expectoration, stitches in chest, frontal headache, dim vision, etc. Violent bronchial cough at night, with very free expectoration of stringy mucus. often used for chronic bronchorrhoea with very tenacious expectoration, sometimes with a feeling as if something would be torn loose, and the patient clutches at the sternum, generally worse at night.
Chest
Jerking stitches about l. short ribs, more upward towards chest. Oppression when inspiring, with stitches in l. half. constriction with pain. Pressure in. Affection of lower half of l., then deep- seated pain there.
Heart and Pulse
Palpitation in evening, with restless sleep; in chest and carotids in evening after lying down making it difficult to get to sleep. Throbbing of heart and arteries at night when lying down; strong throbbing of heart extending below pit of stomach, at night on going to bed, (<) lying on back or l. side, preventing sleep. Pulse tense; and small Rapid; and hard.
Back
Stitches in l. lumbar region,(<) expiration. Heaviness and pressure at end of lumbar vertebrae.
Extremities
Tearing in wrists and ankles, in r. shoulder-joint, knee and tarsus, and l. tarsal bone. Stitches in r. knee and l. elbow. Rheumatic pains in l. shoulder, knee and r. ankle. Weariness. Heaviness in evening.
Born in 1837in Westminster, Vermont. . He was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy
Dr. Allen compiled the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica over the course of 10 years.
In 1881 Allen published A Critical Revision of the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica.