The Indian hemp is a perennial herb belonging to the Apocynaceae. A tincture is prepared from the fresh root.
General Action
Increases the amount of urine; causes free action of the bowels, with weakness of sphincters of rectum and bladder, and with hemorrhoidal congestion. It has a powerfully depressing action on the heart, causing irregularity and great weakness of pulse.
Allies-Alstonia, Digitalis, Asclepias, Arsen., Phosphorus, Aloe, Podophyllum, Oleander, Colchicum, Veratrum
Generalities
Weight diminished. rheumatic pain in joints. Restlessness at night; on going to bed. Weakness in morning; at night, especially in all muscles; after stool, (<) motion; with diarrhoea; muscular; muscular, all the evening. Aggravation from motion.
Mind
Bewildered. Cannot concentrate thoughts. Dull and unable to think well. Fancy exalted with flow of good spirits. No ambition. Inability for labor.
Head
Aching; morning on waking; on waking before 5 A.M.; extending to meatus auditorius externus; confused; confused after stool; confused extending to orbits. Dullness. Heaviness in evening, with aching in small of back and limbs; dull, after stool. Vertigo in morning on rising from stooping;’ on rising from stooping, when rising, (<) yawning or stretching; after stool; (<)ascending; as if he would fall, suddenly appearing and disappearing.
Forehead-Aching;l darting;l throbbing, and in vertex;l heavy drawing, especially about superciliary ridges. Fulness. Heaviness; over eyes.
Temples-Sticking in r. Aching; in r.; r. after stool; r., then stabbing pain then confusion for head, then vertigo; with heaviness and pain in eyes as if he had used them too much; piercing, in r., also after stool. with vertigo and ringing in r. ear; piercing, in r., with nausea; A. darting from l. to r., and vice versa. Throbbing in temporal artery.
Eyes
Irritation in l. as from sand in morning on waking, with heat and redness. Pain in l. as if wearied, with drooping of lids. Pain in orbital region and dull heavy feeling over eyes.
Ears
Sticking in l.; r. Partial deafness in l. after singing.
Nose
Sneezing long-continued and violent, Discharge increased. Nostrils and throat filled with thick, well-concocted yellow mucus in morning on waking.
Face
Pale; with cold sweat (Digitalis, Veratrum). Red and hot look. Dull heavy pain in both side of face and nose, (<) l., passing into forehead.
Mouth
Tongue sticks to the roof in morning. Dryness in morning; on waking. Salivation, then dryness in fauces. Mucus and saliva in mouth and fauces increased. Spit thick and tenacious. tonsils and throat coated with dried mucus.
Stomach
Hunger (Oleander, Verat); all the time; ravenous. thirst on waking. Hiccough right and morning. Nausea; in evening; at night when waking; after sleep; after stool; (<) about 7 or 7.30 P.M.; with inability to vomit; with piercing pain in r. temple; with flashes of heat in different parts, beginning in throat and extending downward. Vomiting; after sleep. Retching. Pinching shooting from r. to l. of epigastrium. Oppression in epigastrium and chest (Phos), impeding breathing, after lighter meals than usual; distressing O. in epigastrium after meals; distressing, in epigastrium, (>) walking. Gnawing; 10 A., m., after a hearty breakfast; after dinner. Burning pain (Colch). Burning while at breakfast. At pyloric region sensation as if a ball pressed against the inside of the wall. Dull, heavy, sick feeling all the inside of the wall. Dull, heavy, sick feeling all the morning, and in abdomen. Working in S. after meals; as from flatus, (>) empty eructations. Sinking; on waking; in pit. Weakness.
Abdomen
Rumbling; during stool, with emission of flatus. Flatulence; emission of flatus in evening; emission before stool; emission during stool. Distention; about stomach, liver and spleen, (<) after a moderate dinner (Lyc). Distended feeling, with pain as if Flatus were moving in different parts, then sudden urging to stool. Feeling as if he had drunk too much water. Grumbling; and disagreeable feeling. Pain while at breakfast, (>) stool; after stool, compelling him to sit down again, when nothing but wind passed; darting in different parts, with feeling as if flatus expanded the intestines; of moving flatus before stool. Feeling as if diarrhoea would occur. Uneasiness. Empty feeling after stool (Podophyllum, Acid sulphuricum, Phosphorus).
Short pinching across middle. Aching in umbilical region; after stool. Grumbling pain in umbilical region. Feeling of goneness in umbilical region after a stool. Feeling as if something were passing up colon, with a grumbling sensation. Feeling as if something were passing through liver. Pulsation n r. hypochondrium in evening. Distended feeling in lower after eating. Darting pain in lower, with rumbling. Weak feeling in lower.
Rectum
Tenesmus (Colch); after stool; after stool, with aching in hypogastric region. Urging to stool; after eating; after pain in abdomen; with emission of only flatus; sudden. Bearing down; after stool, even prostration. Soreness; after a stool, with bearing down. Heaviness. Weak feeling.
Anus
Protruding inflamed haemorrhoids, with pain in anus as if a wedge we forced into it by a hammer; inclination to haemorrhoids. Bearing down pain (Cact) Pressure and weight, (>) walking. Burning. Itching. Open feeling after stool. Loss of powder of sphincter (Aloe).
Stool
Watery, small, with much flatus, then soreness in anus; watery and large, with bearing down pain in anus and soreness in rectum (Aloe). Thin, frequent with the force and sound of a cork from a champagne bottle, lemon-colored, frothy, containing undigested food(Podophyllum); thin, at latter part; copious, thin at first, towards the end containing lumps of faces; thin, light-yellow, mixed with mucus. Loose, bilious, but not very copious. Loose in morning;l loose, small, frequent, with much flatus, sometimes difficult, sometimes expelled with force. diarrhoea scanty, difficult, with much flatus. Furious painless Diarrhoea at night. Early, mushy, expelled with a rush and much flatus. Frothy. Bloody. in voluntary when intending to emit flatus (Aloe). Mushy, copious, darkish-brown, very fetid. Scanty; and difficult. Bowels sluggish but faeces not hard or costive. So large after the diarrhoea ceased that the expulsion was painful. Symptoms always immediately after eating.
Urinary Organs
Bladder seemed much distended, then turbid hot urine, with a thick mucous sediment, with burning in urethra after micturition. Aching at neck of bladder after urinating, with sensation as if the sphincter were trying to close but could not (Jug. r). Little expulsive power in bladder. Weakness of sphincter of neck of B. Constant desire to urinate with copious discharge. The scanty urine flowed as easily as oil. Could hardly tell when urine was passing; hardly knew when he was through, the urine still seemed to want to dribble away. Smarting and burning in urethra when urinating. Aching in urethra after urinating. Discharge of thin watery fluid from urethra. Urine copious; and lighter-colored; with a sediment, which in many respects resembled albumen. Scanty urine. Hot U. (Aloe), leaving tingling in urethra.
Respiratory Organs
Cough short, dry. Sudden, hard and frequent C. evening and nights. Expectoration of white mucus; of white gelatinous mucus. Respiration short and unsatisfactory. Disposition to sigh (Op). Constant sighing from a peculiar sensation in chest. Suffocated feeling.
Heart
Darting pain in. region in afternoon and evening. Catching pain. Weak feeling near. Palpitation. Increased action; with fluttering and sensation as if it would force itself through the wall of the chest. Action fluttering and feeble, then slow and laboured, now and then losing a beat, with a clicking sound. Impulse felt against wall of chest. Pulse rapid; slow; diminished; full, irregular, slow, intermittent, dicrotic, at times feeble.
Back
Pain. ticking in inferior angle of scapula. Pain at inferior angle of l. scapula; pain in r. S. and in muscles of forearm. Prickling tingling in region of l. S. at 2 P., m., with lameness of muscles. Aching in kidney region; in lower part of l. loin when walking. Soreness in kidney region when using muscles. Aching in sacrum and at times sharp and sticking pain, appearing occasionally in hip, knee and ankle joints.
Extremities
Bruised feeling in morning on waking (>) after walking, and in all joints, and especially in small of back. Sore feeling on morning, and in muscles. Weakness of arms. Lower limbs feel stiff. Pain in knees, (<) l.; so that he feared inflammatory rheumatism.
Skin
Boils on face and thighs. Erysipelas of face and head. Itching on back, sides and limbs at 6 P.M., and on going to bed found large papules, like did not relieve, appearing in greatest number on lumbar region and around waist.
Sleep
Sleepiness; on going to bed, without ability to sleep. Little sleep at night. Sleep unrefreshing. Waking early. disturbed by dreams.
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.