A tincture (solution) is made of the gum-resin obtained from Narthex Asafoetida, Face., a plant of the natural order Umbelliferae.
General Action
Most marked on the nervous system, producing effects like hysteria and chorea. Especially valuable in globus hystericus and flatulence.
Affinities.- Conium, Pulsatilla, Croc., Mezer., Cinnab., Acid nitricum
Generalities
Haemorrhages. Trembling over whole body, with cold skin and small, weak pulse. Stitches; in tips of toes, in skin of r. axilla, on r. cheek; fine, superficial here and there, so that he must rub. A good night’s sleep was followed in morning by oppression of chest, quick breathing and beating of pulse and heart, distention of abdomen, then aching in stomach, all (>) stools partly solid, partly papescent, dark brownish and blackish, smelling of the drug, also the rheumatic pains in back of head extending to arms and drawing, rending pain back of neck, were (>) after the stools.
Pain in l. chest, in elbows, below l. scapula, in hands, shoulders. Pressing in joints of of r. hand and in r. temple at 6 A.M. on waking, with pressing in nape of neck. After rising pressure in forehead, drawing in different places in forehead. Pains return frequently and jump from one place to another. Drawing aching below edge of l. ribs when walking and in muscles of scapulae. Drawing in muscles of scapulae, thighs, fingers and in r. cheek. Drawing in spots in skull, in feet, forearms, quickly jumping from one place to another, in wrists, on soles, in calves and temples (Pulsatilla).
Restlessness. Heaviness in whole body. Weakness (in evening, then very sound sleep); in evening, with sleepiness; on motion; with limbs sinking down heavy and relaxed and vertigo. Pains appeared when walking, but were (<) when sitting. Pains(>) forwards 9 P.M. Pains appear less frequently towards evening. Symptoms disappear in evening, except distention of abdomen. Relieved by emission of offensive flatus.
Clinical It has been found useful in various forms of destructive syphilitic processes, deep ulcerations, caries of the bones, especially of tibia; in these cases the characteristic indications are the terrible throbbing pain as night, with extreme sensitiveness of the affected part. It has been used for various forms of hysteria, with extreme sensitiveness to external impressions. Hysterical spasms, with suppression of habitual discharges. Hystero-epilepsy.
Mind
Ill humor and dislike for work. Irritable, yet indifferent to everything. Fretful and apprehensive mood, which seems to arise from arise from abdomen.
Head
Stitches. Aching; in brain; in joints and bones during night when waking and in morning; on small places; with heaviness; with heat and confusion when sitting and reading; alternately increasing and decreasing; extending to eyes and nose; A. like an emptiness. Vertigo. Drawing in skull. Heaviness; with fulness and confusion, then aching over whole brain. Fulness; after waking, which gradually changed to periodical pains, lasting into next night. Rush of blood, with warmth of face and headache. Tension in brain; stupefying tension in head, (<) l. side. Confusion; with stitches in forehead and temples; with pressure in temples; with aching and sensation as if a string were drawn across brain; changing gradually to a pain as if the whole brain were compressed, with vertigo, heat of skin and quickness of pulse; making thought difficult. Weakness.
Forehead.- Stitches in l. eminence in middle and below bone, with aching and burning in sternum and inclination to cough; burning externally, near eminence, (>) touch, and pain as if ulcerated; extending to occiput, then confusion in head; sudden, deeply penetrating under l. eminence, like shocks, then sensitiveness (Ignatia). Tearing. Boring above eyebrow, r. then l. Aching; l. in bones above; with heaviness; with weakness of whole body; on different spots on bones, at times with sticking and burning pains. Drawing wave like pressure through l. half, ending in dull pressure on eminence. Pressive pain from within outward; r., also intermitting. Pressure externally. Aching in l. side, extending over head; A. over eyes as from sleepiness. Drawing. Swashing and gurgling sensation in brain beneath upper part of bone. Heaviness in sinciput; in sinciput and forehead, with pressure and with external warmth of cheeks and ears, chill in back and sticking in tongue. Tensive confusion and burdensome heaviness.
Temples.- Stitches deep in l.; slow in l. Tearing outward in l.; sudden, inward, as from a pointed plug; intermittent in l., almost like a pushing inward.
Vertex.- Superficial stitches on r. side. Pressure on; and over r. eye; starting from l. half, changing gradually to pressure in direction of eyes, increasing and decreasing alternately.
Parietals.- Aching in r. side of head; in l. side of head, extending to eyes and changing to intermittent fulness of brain; in r. bone as from a deeply penetrating plug (Mez. ); sudden in l. side of head as from a dull tool pressed in, rapidly increasing and suddenly disappearing. Pressure outward in l. side. Drawing above r. ear, which changes into stitching.
Occiput.- Tearing. Drawing and tearing pains, extending through nape to upper arms and feeling like rheumatic pains. Drawing pain extending over head, as if brain were compressed by a cloth. Wandering pain. Pressure on I.
Eyes
Burning stinging in l. Dryness. Periodical burning, with pressing together of lids as if overcome by sleep. Pressure. Itching of r. Burning in r. ball; in l. ball, as from within outward; tensive, in r. bal. Burning stinging in r. ball. Sensation of sand between balls and lids; and as if a cold air blew upon bulbi. Pupils dilated. Lid, twitching of upper; of l. upper; stitching and itching, also in edges; itching, sticking and burning, (<) r.; burning in r., also edges of r. Burning in r. inner canthus. Pressure in middle of upper lid.
Pressure on external margin of l. orbit. Pinching drawing across supraorbital region (Cinnab.). Muscae volitantes. Vision dim; when writing, (>) blinking.
Clinical Orbital neuralgia, severe boring pains above orbits, throbbing at night, (>) pressure and rest. A most valuable remedy for a similar pain, which occurs in severe cases of iritis and for intraocular inflammations, permitting the case to progress rapidly towards recovery.
Ears
Aching in r.; l. Drawing and stitches around l. Drawing behind l.; on outer rim of r. concha; in meatus auditorius. Dull sensibility, especially dull hearing, in forenoon. Ringing before.
Nose
Pressure as if it would burst, especially in r. wing. Sneezing. Coryza.
Face
Pressure in l. cheek; in bones of face; on zygomatic bone; outward in r. side. Drawing in l. cheek; r. cheek. Painless tension in various places, on malar-bone (Conium, Verbasc.), nasal bones, with a kind of numb sensation. Swelling of lower lip, with burning sticking, then similar swelling in l. corner of mouth. Numb pressure in l. angle of chin, extending into tooth above it.
Jaw – Pinching in ramus of lower. Pressure in lower; in l. corner; angle of l. lower; r. lower, then in r. forehead; from angles into muscles of nape; in joints, changing into pain, which returned late in evening.
Mouth
Severe drawing in lower incisors. Teeth blunt. Gums sore. Tongue, stitches in tip; burning in tip; biting burning pain in tip. Burning in mouth, throat and stomach. Mouth dry; dry sensation, though there is moisture enough. Sensation as if upper skin of anterior walls of mouth were loosened, as in incipient cancrum oris. Salivation. Taste fatty, rancid; taste insipid and acrid; insipid, changing to that of onions.
Throat
Drawing down l. side on motion. Hysterical rising, as if a ball or large body ascended from stomach to oesophagus (Acid nitricum), or pharynx, in evening (Senec.), obliging him to swallow, which relieved (Ignatia), but the sensation returned. Scraping. Constriction, with pressure in chest. Dryness, and while swallowing tension.
OEsophagus – Spasms (Stram); like hysteria. Sensation as if peristaltic motions were reversed, and, in oesophagus were driven from stomach towards throat. Rising in, afterwards with nausea and scraping in pharynx; hysteric rising. Aching and burning, and in throat, like heartburn, as after fat food. Soreness, and of stomach. Dryness, without thirst.
Stomach
Appetite increased; with nausea; with desire for something relishing and nourishing; poor; lost. Wine was not relished as usual. Aversion to beer, which tastes slimy. Eructation of air; also tasting of garlic; with garlicky smell; offensive; warm; with salivation; then nausea, as from emptiness of stomach and disgust for food. Nausea. Feeling as if disordered by fat. Distention of stomach and bowels (Lycopodium, Croc.) with feeling as if peristaltic motions were reversed (Elaps.), with spasmodic working in oesophagus. Perceptible pulsation in pit (Pulsatilla). Sensation as if beaten in epigastric region and abdomen, with fulness in former and eructations.
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.