LEDUM PALUSTRE


LEDUM PALUSTRE symptoms of the homeopathy remedy from Homeopathic Drug Pictures by M.L. Tyler. What are the symptoms of LEDUM PALUSTRE? Keynote indications and personality traits of LEDUM PALUSTRE…


      Marsh Tea.

Introduction

      WE have such a wealth of “wound-worts”, remedies for injuries of different kinds to different tissues, and of different seasons, that we may always find one or other at our door all the world over; and one prescriber learns to use, and swears by the one, one the other: and indeed, their uses overlap:and yet the one called for, if we know it and have it at hand, is always the ideal one for rapid magic.

At the moment our Constantly Department is swearing by, and discovering the transcendent virtues of Ledum: a remedy, as we all know, of course! for stings and puncture, and bites of angry animals; for the rusty nails that run dangerously into the sole of the foot, or palm of the hand. But we, most of us, have probably a very small idea of its complete : inwardness”, and of its wider ranges of usefulness.

A resident casualty officer, very keen at his work, and therefore getting the dramatic result he deserves, gives us the following experiences.

His indications are especially punctured wounds, or wounds very sensitive to touch. Abscesses, and septic conditions, very tender, relieved by cold. If the patient is not sure in regard to the effect of heat and cold, he gets him to “put it under the cold tap”, and if this is grateful, he is sure of his drug.

He cites a couple of recent cases: Finger;scratch from rusty nail; had become septic. Patient had put finger under hot tap in the hotel,. without relief. It was early sepsis, not much swelling, but it looked”angry”. Ledum 12, six doses four-hourly was prescribed, but patient was to stop the medicine if better. Two hours after the first dose all pain went. In twenty four hours there was nothing to show.

Case: crushed fingers; badly lacerated. Had been stitched elsewhere. Could not sleep. The pain was throbbing, and shooting up arm: relieved by colds: could not bear touch. After Ledum was given there was no more pain. And so on.

“Relieved by cold-of course!” Who does not remember KENT’s dramatic case, where he found a patient kicking ice about in a tub, to relieve severe pain in his feet. And perhaps we have most of us come by the utterly erroneous idea that Ledum is therefore a “warm remedy”. Go to Hahnemann and his proving to find that the exact opposite is the case. And here you realize that in Ledum you have one of the remedies of priceless apparently contradictory indications which make the choice of drug easy.

Ledum is really a desperately chilly remedy, with its pains relieved by cold. As GUERNSEY gives it, “For the complaints of persons who are cold all the time:- in bed, in the house, etc. they always feel cold and chilly.”

But Ledum has also some other striking, often contradictory. symptoms, as :-

Stiffness of all the joints:could only move them after applying cold water. Stiffness in joints is, surely, generally helped by soaking in hot water?

Again, the wounded parts feel cold to tough and to the patient, and yet their pains are relieved by cold. Just as Arsenicum; has burning, relieved by heat: so Ledum has coldness relieved by cold.

Ledum has also, general coldness without sensation of chilliness. Or, chilliness as if sprinkled with cold water on one part or another. (Contrast Secale, which has a sensation of burning coals falling on parts which are cold to touch). And the other way about. Ledum has shivering and chilliness and goose flesh, without external coldness.

Or the chilly Ledum perspires, and cannot bear to be covered by bed clothes. Sweats all night.

Its rheumatism not only begins in the lower limbs and feet, and travels upwards (reverse of Kalmia) but it is also far more severe in the lower limbs.

Again, contrast Lachesis-puffy, purple and hot, with Ledum, puffy, purple and cold.

And, as said, Ledum wounds, abscesses and septic foci are tender, cold, and relieved by cold, while those of Arsenicum burn, and relieved by heat. * * *

HAHNEMANN, who made a brief proving of the drug, says of Ledum. “The subjoined symptoms are yet enough to show that this very powerful medicine is suitable for the most part only for chronic maladies in which there is a predominance of coldness and deficiency of animal heat.

He says also that in his day many intoxicating beers were adulterated to a hurtful extent and in a criminal manner with Ledum, to which the police authorities should pay more attention.” CLARKE-Dictionary, has much to say about Ledum and quotes instructive cases.

He says that the leaves of Ledum are still used in Sweden to increase the intoxicating power of beer. Ledum occupies the second place in Test’s Arnica Group, in which are also Crot.h., Ferrum magn., Rhus and Spigelia: but Ledum has a special action on the capillary system in parts where cellular tissue is wanting, and where a dry, resisting texture is present, as in the fingers and toes. “It is perhaps for that reason that it acts better on the small than on the large joints.” A sort of bluish or violet tuberosities, especially on the forehead, and an eczematous eruption, with tingling itching that spreads over the whole body, penetrating in to the mouth, probably also into the air passages, and occasions a spasmodic cough, sometimes very violent, which might be mistaken for whooping-cough. Especially useful in bronchitis with emphysema of the aged; renders bronchial secretion less viscid, lessens dyspnoea, stimulates circulation and lessens cyanosis. Haemoptysis alternating with rheumatism. Ledum has often been given to horses when they go lame and draw up their legs. In one case, sensation of feet held to earth as by a magnet when attempting to move: when moving felt as if pricked by needles; pain rising from feet to head.

Scraps from GUERNSEY:

Punctured wounds from sharp pointed instruments-awls, rat bites, nails, particularly if the wounded parts are cold; or,. e.g.

Ten years ago I stepped on a nail, and ever since then, have had a pain running up to the thigh.” Bad effects from recent or chronic injuries, especially from punctured wounds.

When striking the toe there is a coldness in the parts, and a gouty pain shoots through foot and limb. Cracking of joints.

Whitlows, felons, etc., often caused by needle pricks.

Sufferings are worse, or come on later getting warm in bed. Must get out of bed, which affords relief.

For complaints of people who are cold all the time-in bed, in the house, etc.; they always feel cold and chilly.

Worse from moving, especially the joints; while walking; getting warm in bed.

Better while reposing.

KENT in his graphic and practical way, has a great deal to say about Ledum. We will cull, and condense.

He finds a good many features similar to those of Lachesis: mottled., puffy, bloated face. Therefore of course Ledum is antidotal to Lachesis: also to the poison of insects, to Apis and to animal poisons.

He calls it a great remedy for the surgeon, closely associated in traumatism with Arnica and Hypericum,: especially for injures from stepping on tacks, puncturing with needles: wounds that bleed scantily, but are followed by pain, puffiness and coldness of the part. Splinters: splints under the nail: of such wounded part becomes cold, then pale,, paralyzed and mottled, think of Ledum. A horse steps on a nail, it goes through and strikes the margin of the coffin bone, with tetanus to follow and death: put Ledum on the tongue of that horse and there will not be any trouble. Ledum removes the tendency to such results.

If tetanus comes on after punctured wounds, think of Hypericum: but give Ledum at once, and prevent tetanus. Torn nails, or lacerated parts rich in nerves, and here Hypericum is the remedy. For bruising. however extensive,. and sensation of bruising, the remedy is Arnica. Open lacerations and cuts, think of Calendula. He says, for local causes, use local remedies: for internal causes, treat with internal remedies.

(But as we have seen, Ledum internally in potency is amazingly helpful and comforting to external injuries.) He says also, if a wound, carefully dressed, does not heal by first intention, look out for the constitutional cause, and ferret out its remedy.

The Ledum patient is very subject to constitutional coldness, coldness to touch cold body and extremities, with hot head (Arn). But also the other extreme: the body overheated skin purple or highly coloured, throbbing and pulsating everywhere, and wants covers off at night. A Ledum, headache, she may want to put it out in to the cold air (Arsenicum, phosphorus), wants to bathe it in very cold water.

Bloated, swollen, mottled hands and feet: swollen as far as skin will allow: with excruciating pain: the only relief to be got is by sitting by the hour, with the feet in a tub of ice-cold water. He gives case in a syphilitic drunkard: “when I first saw him he had a good-sized wash-tub, and he sat with the ice water ]two thirds up to his knees and pieces of ice floating around, which he liked to have coming in contract with the skin. He would go on putting in ice. He ‘suffered agonies something dreadful. Well, a dose of Ledum took his feet out of the ice water, so that he never used it afterwards. The purpleness disappeared, the swelling went down, the bloating went out of his feet and he quit drinking.” Ledum even “cured him of very much of his syphilitic trouble” KENT stays, “Pulsatilla and Ledum are the two principle remedies that want the feet in very cold water. But Ledum suited that man.”

Margaret Lucy Tyler
Margaret Lucy Tyler, 1875 – 1943, was an English homeopath who was a student of James Tyler Kent. She qualified in medicine in 1903 at the age of 44 and served on the staff of the London Homeopathic Hospital until her death forty years later. Margaret Tyler became one of the most influential homeopaths of all time. Margaret Tyler wrote - How Not to Practice Homeopathy, Homeopathic Drug Pictures, Repertorising with Sir John Weir, Pointers to some Hayfever remedies, Pointers to Common Remedies.