A tincture is prepared from the fresh flowers and youngest twigs of Cactus grandiflorus L. (Cereus-grand., Dec.).
General Action
Particularly a “heat remedy,” most of the symptoms being the outcome of cardiac disturbance. A malarial feature is marked and valuable, and in this respect (only) it is to be compared with Gelsem.
Affinities. Digitalis, Crot., Phosphorus, Amyl-nit., Spigel., Gelsem.
Generalities
Muscles did not obey the will accurately, owing to defective vision or to other causes. Restlessness when sitting, legs thrown here and there involuntarily; R., with haste in his actions, he seemed never to be in time, with agitation at heart and feeling of oppression. Jerking-tearing in forehead and in limbs. Pain now and then during the day, in muscles of r. upper arm, of chest, of calves, of soles. General discomfort. General malaise. Weakness; with sadness and bad humor; so that he does not venture to speak; so that he does not venture to walk. Inspiration of fresh air is very reviving.
Clinical Intermittent neuralgia, (<) fasting.
Mind
Hypochondriasis. Fear of death, belief that his disease is incurable (Digitalis). Sadness, taciturnity and weeping mood. Love of solitude. Anxiety, returning in evening. Passion at slightest contrariety. Feeling of having done violence to myself. Semi-remorse at having done something wrong. Disposition to do deliberately whatever was undertaken. Impulse to do something facetious; something bordering on the grotesque; to swallow large and unwholesome portions of medicine. Repugnance to the taking of more medicine. Talking nonsense in sleep at night and talking disconnectedly on waking. Difficulty in arriving at conclusions.
Head
Aching form congestion; A., with weariness; causing anxiety, so that he cannot stay in bed; with weight on vertex, pressing in temples, pulsating in temples, ears and eyes, as if they would burst outward, weakness of vision and intolerance of light and sound. Empty feeling. Fulness as from congestion. Sensation at night as if brain had frown fast to skull. Vertigo; from congestion to head; causing staggering.
Aching in forehead; in l. side in evening and on waking in night; in F., (<) bright light, loud voices or noises; intermittent, in F., (<) in house. Pulsating pain in temples, (<) at night. Pulsations in temples, as if skull would burst; in T. and ears, causing hypochondriasis. Weight in r. temple, (>) pressure, and on r. eyebrow. Pain like a weight on vertex; (>) pressure; (<) sound of talking and by any noise. Tensive pain in vertex every two days.
Pressure on r. parietal bone; in l. Pain in l. parietal bone in morning after rising; in l., in forenoon, more externally; in r. side of head, (<) raising head from pillow; in r. side, (<) sound of talking and by bright light; pulsating, in r. side of head, with weight, Aching in cerebellum; in occiput, (>) quick exercise or mental activity; in O., (<) motion of head, with drawing. Painful drawing in aponeurotic covering of occiput, (>) bending head backward. Heaviness in posterior part of brain on retiring, (<) touch of pillow, (>) lying on side, with pain.
Clinical Congestive headaches. Threatening apoplexy. Neuralgic headaches, especially, in r. side and on vertex, periodical.
Eyes and Ears
Vision weak; periodically; lost momentarily; lost, with circles of red light. Pulsations in ears. Hearing diminished by buzzing in ears. Noise all night like the running of a river.
Nose and Face
Dry coryza, with necessity at night to breathe, with the mouth open; fluent and acrid C. Profuse nosebleed. Face pale, with emaciation; flushed; bloated and red, with pulsating pain in head.
Mouth and Throat
Tongue dry and coated, with slime in nares and throat. Sensation in mouth of having swallowed something unpleasant. Scraping in palate. Breath fetid in morning. Taste soapy; T. slimy, weedy. Scraping on soft palate. Felt in throat an accumulation of mucus, which was expectorated. Constriction in throat, causing frequent swallowing of saliva; C. in oesophagus, preventing swallowing, he must drink much water to force anything into stomach.
Stomach
Appetite better than usual; at breakfast; great, but digestion slow and weak; lost; lost, with nausea; lost, with loss of taste of food. Thirst; satisfied with a small quantity of water at one time. Acrid, acid rising in throat and mouth and making all food taste acid. Nausea; with retching and copious discharge of mucus. Copious vomiting of blood.
Gastro-enteritis. Pain; terrible, with pressure inward, constriction of scrobiculus extending to hypochondria and to fifth rib, as from a hot-iron having involuted edges of an inch in size, pressing more and more till respiration was distressing. Pulsation; in pit; in coeliac artery after dinner, corresponding with pulsation of r. temporal artery. Heaviness. Oppression and weight. Stricture about S. and chest. Constriction in scrobiculus, extending to hypochondria and impeding respiration. Burning. Empty feeling. Sensation of something disagreeable in it. Uneasiness as from difficult digestion. Digestion bad, all food causes weight in S. and so much suffering that he prefers to fast. Digestion slow, even after eight or ten hours the taste of food rises in throat.
Clinical Dyspepsia, with heart symptoms, palpitation, constriction, etc.
Abdomen
Borborygmi before stool. Pain; almost causing faintness. Distress here and there as if a serpent were turning around. Soreness, with distention. Burning internally. External heat in parietes. Cutting in umbilicus after stool; in lower umbilical and hypogastric regions. Wandering periodical pains in umbilical region. Constriction in groins, extending around pelvis.
Anus
Copious haemorrhage (Crotal., Phosphorus). Bleeding of haemorrhoids after stool. Swollen painful varices outside. Pricking, (>) slight friction. Sensation of great weight and urging to evacuate a great quantity, but nothing passes. Sensation as if rectum were swollen, causing scraping during stool and pricking. Itching.
Clinical Haemorrhage from the bowels in malarial fevers and with heart symptoms.
Stool
Soft, then pain in hypogastrium. Frequent diarrhoea from 6 to 12 A.M., preceded by great pain, no stool in afternoon; frequent bilious, always preceded by pain; bilious, with pain in abdomen; frequent mucous, preceded by drawing pain; copious watery, the morning stools always preceded by pains and borborygmus. Hard, difficult, then discharge of blood from anus. Constipation; as from haemorrhoidal congestion.
Urinary Organs
Constriction of neck of bladder. Frequent urging at night, with a copious flow each time. Ineffectual urging. Micturition by drops, with much burning. Involuntary M. in sleep at 5 A.M. Frequent and copious M. Irritation in urethra as if he should urinate constantly. Redness of orifice of urethra. Heat in urethra, gradually increasing. Urine copious; after a long endeavor to pass it; and reddish, turbid; and straw-colored. Urine scanty. U. of the odor of freshly drawn green tea. U. deposits a red sand.
Clinical Haemorrhage from the bladder.
Sexual Organs
Tendency to congestion to urinogenital system. Priapisms towards evening; just before retiring. Great desire, with priapisms. Copious emission about 12 M., after strong desire.
Pain in uterus and its ligaments every evening, increasing gradually till 11 P.M. Pulsating pain in uterus and ovarian region, like an internal tumor suppurating, at the same hour every day, extending to thighs. (Constriction in uterine region, gradually extending to stomach, causing sensation of a great flow in veins and eliciting cries, then passing off rapidly.) Painful menstruation, causing loud cries; painful, with prostration. Menses eight days too soon. Black, pitchy, rather abundant M. Scanty M., ceasing while lying.
Clinical Inflammation of the ovaries, with constriction. Vaginismus. Dysmenorrhoea, pains occur periodically, menses cease on lying down, with heart symptoms.
Respiratory Organs
Cough, which aggravated the suffering, with mucous expectoration; C., with thick expectoration like boiled starch and yellow; catarrhal, with much viscid expectoration; spasmodic, with copious mucous expectoration; obstinate, stertorous, (<) night; dry at night, from itching in larynx.
Haemoptysis (Phosphorus). Difficult breathing, with oppression and uneasiness as if chest were constricted by an iron band (Digitalis in part.). Periodical suffocation, with fainting, cold sweat on face and loss of pulse (Digitalis). Congestive asthma. Oppressed breathing when walking; (<) open air; with anxiety; as from weight on chest (Phosphorus). Short inspiration; short breathing when walking and when ascending stairs, with palpitation.
Clinical Bronchitis, with rattling of mucus, great distress for breath, etc. Haemorrhage from the lungs, with violent action of the heart, oppressed respiration (compare Aconite).
Chest
Stitches in r. upper. Pain; in upper part of r. side; at night in nerves running from l. axilla to adjoining pectoral region; in l. breast, (<) touch, (>) gently raising it; (<) walking and ascending stairs, causing deep breathing, with palpitation; between l. second and third ribs when sitting quietly, causing deep breathing; sharp wandering, in cavity, worse in scapular region. Painful drawings in l. muscles extending to shoulder-joint and impeding respiration and use of arm. Constriction as if bound; as from a tight cord around false ribs, with obstruction of breath; in middle of sternum, as with iron pincers; (<) motion, with oppression of breathing; preventing free speech, when forced to speak the voice is weak and hoarse; in upper part, hindering respiration. Oppression, with loss of breath; O. in l. subclavian region. Congestion, preventing lying in bed.
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.